Tortured, Yet Strong
by fanfictionisahobby
Summary: She has been through the worst hell imaginable but what will happen when she is saved and looked after by a group of survivors who have made a cabin in the middle of the woods their home. And will her past come back to haunt her? (Title given by AquaDestinysEmbrace)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm probably going to receive flak for this character but she is a creation from Telltale, so rant to them, not me.**

**By the way, anything that's in italics is a flashback.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

The fire crackled and sizzled in the cold, stiff air of the night as a lonely girl sat on the log that acted like a bench. She shivered from the cold wind as her green t-shirt, worn black jeans, and shredded shoes provided little warmth from the bone chilling night. Thankfully, she did have possession of a warm blanket which was the only thing that kept her alive on cold nights like this one. She tucked herself closer into the blanket as she went back to staring at the fire. The girl had been through the worst amount of pain and suffering that anyone could endure in this wretched apocalypse. After the bandits were done 'hurting' her, as she quoted it, she ran away. When she saw the overran St. John's Dairy, she had hope that it was her mom's doing. She took a risk returning to the campsite where she and her mom were surviving, but only to see her mom's corpse. She had spent several nights waking up from horrible nightmare of her mother as a walker eating her and the bandits returning to 'hurt' her.

She spent a lot of nights on her own after that until a group found her and took care of her, but like all things in this world, the group didn't last and she was back on her own again. Eventually, she found a map on a deceased couple with a circle around a place called Wellington. It was up near Michigan, and it would be a long trek but it may be worth it in the end. Now that Danielle has recovered from the death of her mom, Jolene, she desperately wanted a new mom. A mom to look after her and keep any mean men away from her.

She looked at her stuffed rabbit toy and said, "Don't worry, Flopsie; we're going to make it to Wellington." Danielle was convincing herself at this point since the object did nothing but stare back at her. As she looked at the rabbit with her arms extended out, it revealed her scarred up wrists. Sadly, suicide had passed Danielle's mind more than once. Danielle placed her stuffed rabbit toy next to her and looked at her wrists. Each cut told a story, a story of how she lost her nerve and wanted to give up. But when she heard of Wellington, she decided to give it one last effort. Whether she made it or not, she would finally find peace. She starred up at the stars as the smoke from the fire rose up to meet the sky but never made it. She would have to keep going; tomorrow will be another day for her.

**Tomorrow**

Danielle walked through the woods with her gun at the ready. She despised the loud device but it and her knife were her only means of safety out in the woods. Her long dark brown hair made her an easy target to many walkers but she didn't care at this point, there was no point trying to stay safe anymore when a person has lost all hope and is all alone.

She had recently found an abandoned farm house and went inside to find anything to eat and perhaps a change of clothes. Thankfully, she was in luck. The previous owner must have had a daughter her age, because she came out of the house with a clean yellow hooded sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of white and pink sneakers. It felt very refreshing to be in a completely new outfit. She had even managed to grab some spare clothes for summer. There was only one article of clothing she neglected to leave behind which was her green t-shirt, which was underneath her newly obtained yellow hooded sweatshirt. Unfortunately, there was no food, which wasn't good considering that her last meal was a week ago. Her stomach had given up at this point with the constant growling and instead lightheadedness and shakiness were starting to take over.

She spotted a boulder nearby and decided to rest against it, allowing exhaustion and hunger to take over as she holstered her gun. She smiled and hummed as she started to drift off to sleep, until she heard something that she dreaded. It was a growl, followed by a set of moaning. She looked around and noticed that there were several walkers within the area. She struggled to get up as one of the walkers got closer to her. However, she got up too quickly and started to stumble and her vision blurred. She regained her balance but only for a second as the walker tried to bite her but ended up falling on top of her. She grunted and cried as she pushed the walker away but it proved stronger than her. As she finally accepted her fate, something flew into the walker's skull, making it jolt back. It suddenly became deadweight and slumped on top of her as she saw a young man armed with a machete slash at a nearby walker. He then walked over to the young girl and pulled the walker off of her. Meanwhile, an older man took aim with a crossbow and shot another walker. "I'm out. Grab her and let's go." The man with a crossbow said.

The man that took the walker off of her got down and picked her up. "Come on kid." He then lifted her as she yelped. The two men ran off with Danielle as fast as they could, all the while avoiding walkers left and right.

They finally stopped and the older man with the crossbow huffed, "I…I think we lost them."

"Yeah we're good." The younger man said. The two then looked down to Danielle as she squirmed in the man's grip. "Hey kid, it's all right. You're okay, now."

"No!" Danielle screamed. "Let me go!" Tears flowed from her eyes as she remembered what those horrible men did to her. She wrestled from the man's grip with her remaining strength and arched her back in panic trying to escape.

"Kid, calm down!" The young man said as he tried to keep his grip on her. He was somewhat scared that her wails and cries would attract walkers.

"Luke, you're scarin the poor thing." The older man said. He then looked to the girl as she tried to free herself but only succeeded in tiring herself out. She huffed frighteningly as Pete asked, "Darlin, would you want me to carry ya? You ain't exactly lookin too good, and I don't mind."

Danielle looked to Pete and contemplated on his offer. He did remind Danielle of her grandpa whom she didn't know was alive at this point. Unlike the older man, her grandpa was a stronger man in his early fifties and he loved the outdoors. More than likely, he was still alive, somewhere in this chaos, but she didn't know for sure. "Okay." Danielle said. She knew she was completely exhausted and she didn't have much strength left.

The older man smiled as he took Danielle in his arms from the younger man whose name was Luke. The young girl instantly relaxed in his grip and rested her head against his chest. The older man chuckled and the two continued down the path as Luke picked up the crossbow and held it at the ready. "So what are you doing out here?" The older man asked. "Where are the people you are with?"

"Yeah, because there's no way you made it all this way on your own." Luke said as the girl jumped when he started to speak.

"Hey darlin." The older man spoke softly. "Don't worry, Luke is a very nice guy. I trust that boy with my life. He ain't goin to do anything to harm you."

Danielle relaxed as she realized her mistake. Not all men were evil in this world. He even risked his life to save hers, "I'm sorry, Mister Luke." Danielle spoke.

Luke looked back to her and said, "It's fine. And you can just call me Luke, no need to be so formal." He smiled over his shoulder at her as he stated the last part of his sentence and then continued to walk through the woods.

"As for my group; they're all dead." Danielle said sadly.

The older man looked down sadly and said, "I'm sorry to hear that darlin."

"It's just been me and Flopsie for a while now." Danielle said as she looked off distantly.

The older man raised a brow and asked, "Flopsie? Who is Flopsie?"

"My stuffed bunny rabbit!" Danielle said being slightly cheerful. She was starting to grow to the men and she continued, "I can't play with her during the day because I'm always moving, so I keep her in my backpack."

The older man chuckled at the child's delight and said, "Well that's good. Is she a nice bunny rabbit?"

Danielle hummed with a nod and the older man continued, "I do believe that I haven't properly introduced myself. My name's Pete. You already know Luke." Pete said as he gestured to his accomplice. Luke looked back over his shoulder again and gave a smile before looking back in front of him.

"My name's Danielle, but all my friends before everything happened would call me Dani for short." The girl introduced herself.

"Well it's nice to meet you Dani. Right now we're going to take you back to our group. You look like you could use some rest and recoverin." Pete said.

"You uh, sure about that Pete?" Luke asked. "You know Nick is a mess after what happened to Mary."

"Well I'm sure that I ain't leaving a little girl out in the woods when we have a doctor who could fix her up." Pete snapped back. Danielle tensed up from the older man getting excited. Pete noticed this and said, "Sorry about that, I guess you're more tense than I thought."

* * *

><p>The three finally left the wooded area and Pete and Luke walked into a clearing. Danielle fell asleep as Pete carried her and they approached the house.<p>

"I'm going to go get Carlos." Luke said.

"Go for it." Pete grunted as he carefully placed the sleeping Danielle on the ground.

Nick exited the house as Luke walked up the stairs. Nick looked over to Pete and glared at him. "What the f***? She's bit isn't she?" Nick said angrily to Luke.

Luke raised his hands in surrender and said, "We don't know yet Nick. Just calm down, brother."

"F*** that." Nick said as he brushed past Luke and stormed towards Pete.

"Shit. I got to get Carlos, before he does something." Luke said and he ran inside the house.

"What the f***, Uncle Pete?" Nick bellowed.

"Nick, calm down son." Pete said as he placed himself between Nick and the resting girl.

"Get the f*** away from her!" Nick exclaimed. "You don't know if she's bit."

Suddenly the house opened up to reveal an angered Rebecca and a worried Alvin following her. Great, just what the doctor ordered, more anger and suspicion. Rebecca approached Pete and said, "Are f******* insane. She could be working for Carver."

"Now hold on, Rebecca." Pete said to calm the woman but it was useless. Meanwhile, Nick watched the conversation between Rebecca and his uncle while keeping his hunting rifle aimed towards the girl just in case she would reanimate. However, what he didn't know was that the young girl was starting to wake up.

Danielle's vision blurred as she watched the argument between Pete and a pregnant woman intensified. "She told me that her whole group is gone. She has no one left."

"And you believed that bullshit?" Rebecca inquired. "You should have never tried to help her. It's not our responsibility to save anyone."

Danielle was frightened by the rifle being in her face. She had been shot at before but she was never shot. She would always have pure luck on her side and be able to flee from her assailants. Additionally, her small frame made her a hard target to hit, but this time the rifle was aimed right at her, if the young man holding the rifle made one small move with his finger, it could spell the end for her. Panic got the better of her and she bolted from the adult and back towards the woods.

"Hey!" Nick exclaimed and he squeezed the trigger. The bullet shot through the air making a thunderous roar as it exited the barrel. The bullet flew past the young girl which made her stop right in her tracks. She looked over to see Nick, who resembled the bandits that had 'hurt' her. She wanted to back away but his glare told her if she moved any further towards the forest that he would shoot her. Additionally, the only reason why her body was functioning as it was, was because of the adrenaline that was rushing through her. So reluctantly, she walked back as Nick glared at her. "You make another f****** move like that, and I will kill you." Nick snapped.

"Dammit boy, she's just a little girl!" Pete scolded Nick. Pete then wrestled the gun from his nephew's grasp.

The door to the cabin slammed open as Luke exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa, what the f***!" Luke then rushed towards the group as he descended from the stairs. He was followed by a Spanish man who was walking slower.

"You idiot!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Every lurker for five mile probably heard that!"

"Hey, I'm only doing what you wanted Pete and Luke to do!" Nick snapped back.

"Everyone just calm down for a second." Alvin said as he tried to be the voice of reason to keep the group from turning on each other.

"Danielle, are you okay?" Luke asked. Everyone looked to the girl as she grabbed her left wrist with her right hand.

"I… Yeah, I…" Danielle trailed off not knowing what to say. She knew that the small group didn't trust her and she would be happy to leave, but she was running on fumes back in the forest. She was struggling to stay awake in front of them at that very moment.

"We have a doctor here. He'll take a look at you." Luke said as he subtly motioned Carlos to come and check on the girl. Luke then turned to his group and said, "What's the matter with you all? All right, she's just scared."

"We're all scared, Luke." Rebecca snapped. "Don't act like we're wrong just because we don't believe in some bullshit story that doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, there's no way she made it out there on her own." Nick agreed.

"Let me take a look at her." The Spanish doctor, Carlos, said as he walked up to the girl.

She started walk back as he approached her and she looked towards Luke. "It's all right, he's doctor." Luke said.

Danielle visibly shook as she didn't want the doctor to look at her. She finally accepted defeat in the form of her staring at the ground as the doctor crouched down in front of her. He raised a hand to look at her but Danielle instinctively flinched.

Carlos looked at the girl sadly and said, "I know you're afraid but you have to understand that I am not going to hurt you. I just need to see if there are any bites." He slowly approached with his hand to take a hold of her arm but Danielle quickly withdrew by hugging her arms. The situation caused her mind to retreat into one of the worst memories that she ever had…

_The eight year-old girl's eyes widened as one of the bandits got closer to her. Her mother, Jolene, was held down by two bandits each one had a hold of her arm. "Leave her alone!" Jolene yelled._

"_Shut the f*** up!" One of the bandits said as he slammed the stock of his crossbow into her head. Meanwhile, the bandit grabbed Danielle by her arm and started to drag her from the camp and into the woods. _

"_No!" Danielle screamed. "Mommy help!" She struggled and dragged the heels of her shoes on the ground to prevent the bandit from dragging her away._

"_Stop it!" The bandit bellowed and he slapped Danielle. Danielle whimpered and lost her focus which allowed the bandit to drag her away from the camp._

"_Mommy!" Danielle screamed. _

_But all Jolene could do was watch as the bandit took her daughter away. "No, not my baby! Please!" Jolene cried as the other two bandits kept her in place. She fought them furiously but both bandits remained strong and didn't allow the woman to get up._

From there, the flashback ended and Danielle saw the doctor with her arm. She must have dazed off. "No!" Danielle exclaimed as she retracted her arm which surprised him.

Carlos was surprised by the child's defiance and said, "Do you want us to put you in that shed?" His tone was very stern and impatient as he continued, "Because that is what it comes down to. You either let me look you over for bites or you stay in that shed." He signaled to the shed with an angry scowl as Danielle looked down sadly.

"Shit, Carlos, she's just scared." Pete said.

"No, I'll stay in the shed." Danielle said. She then started to walk away from the group. Pete and Alvin were surprised by her decision, Rebecca and Nick still scowled at the girl, and Carlos looked somewhat remorseful for losing his temper so easily.

Luke joined alongside her as Nick went to retrieve his hunting rifle from Pete. "Listen, I know that things might be a little tense in the group right now, but we aren't going to do anything to harm you."

"But you won't help me either." Danielle snapped coldly. Luke was about to speak when Danielle continued, "No, I get it. Protect friends and family from evil strangers like me."

"It's not like that at all!" Luke interjected. "Carlos is just wanting to take a look at you to make sure that you have no bites or scratches on you."

Danielle looked down and shook her head, "I'm not bit or scratched." Nick finally joined Luke as they escorted Danielle to the shed.

"Well alright then, that means you have nothing to hide." Luke said as he reached for her shoulder, but Danielle brushed him off and turned around to see both men.

"Luke, I'm not going into that shed because I'm bit or scratched. I'm going into that shed because I don't trust you or your people and I don't want to be in a house full of people who could care less if I die."

"The feeling is mutual." Nick snapped.

Luke shot a death glare at Nick which surprised the young man and he went back to looking at Danielle. "Pete and I trust you. We saved your life."

"And you almost took it too." Danielle replied. She huffed to calm down and said in a sweeter tone, "Luke, I respect you for taking the risk in saving my life but no one else here likes me. I'll just stay in this shed for now. Maybe find something to eat tomorrow and be on my way."

"Good, the sooner you leave the better." Nick said coldly. Luke sent another glare before he punched Nick in the arm. It wasn't just a playful punch either. Nick turned around and rubbed his sore arm as Luke walked away. "What the heck was that for?" Nick inquired as he chased after Luke. Danielle then opened the door of the shed and closed it behind her.

Inside, the shed was almost empty, with the exception of a tacklebox, a workbench, an anchor, and some lumber. "Not the most inviting home, but it is better than what we had in weeks, right Flopsie?" Danielle asked as she took out her coveted stuffed rabbit toy from her backpack along with her blanket.

Danielle walked over to one of the walls and laid next to it as she covered the lower half of her body with her blanket. She stared at her stuffed rabbit toy in an almost mesmerized state as her eyes began to grow heavy…

_The eight year-old child ran as fast as she could towards where she last saw her mom. The St. John's Dairy was completely overran. Her mom must have destroyed it to get revenge on the bandits that Danielle was fortunate enough to escape from. Danielle spotted the familiar campsite and she ran towards it with glee, "Mommy, mommy I-" Danielle stopped herself as she stared at the corpse of her mother._

"_No, no, no." Danielle whimpered until she finally let out an ear-piercing cry._

Danielle shot up and huffed heavily as she recalled every detail from that horrible day.

After settling down, Danielle looked around the shed and knew it was night time. The cold chill in the air, the darker surroundings, and the fact that she was more scared of every little sound. Danielle never did like the dark; she got used to it, but she still didn't like it.

The door to the shed started creak and revealed the moonlight; someone was coming into the shed. The figure on closer examination revealed to be Luke. He had a bowl with a spoon in it in one hand and an electric lantern in the other. He set electric lantern down at the entrance of the shed so he wouldn't blind Danielle with it and he started to approach her. "I brought some food for you. I know you mentioned that you were fixing on finding something to eat tomorrow."

Danielle nodded as she got up and sat against the wall. She patted the ground next to her with a small smile. Luke picked up on the hint and walked over. He sat down next to her and handed her the oatmeal. "Thanks Luke and sorry about earlier." Danielle said as she took the oatmeal.

"Sorry for what?" Luke asked.

"I should have never said that I didn't trust you. I don't know what came over me." Danielle said as she sent an apologetic glance towards Luke.

"Yeah well, Nick didn't make things easier. I'm sorry on behalf of most of my group. We're all a little on edge." Luke said.

"Because of that Carver guy that Rebecca mentioned?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah." Luke replied. "Anyway, none of us had the right to treat you like that. You were scared and overwhelmed…" Luke said as it was his turn to send an apologetic glance towards the girl. He noticed that she was stirring her oatmeal an almost hesitant manner. "That's going to get cold if you don't eat it. What's wrong, you don't like oatmeal?"

"I haven't eaten anything in a week." Danielle stated. "And I do like oatmeal."

"Oh." Luke said. "Well just take it slow, try to eat as much as you can, okay?"

Danielle nodded and she slowly raised a spoon full of oatmeal towards her mouth. She took a small bit from the spoon and swallowed it with a hard gulp. She wasn't completely starved but her body still reacted. Her stomach started to develop pain but she continued. The pain reached its climax which forced her to grip her stomach and set the bowl down. "Are you okay?" Luke asked.

Danielle shook her head and said, "No, I think I'm done. It feels like someone just sucker punched me in the belly."

"Okay." Luke said as he took the bowl of oatmeal from Danielle. "Go ahead and rest. I'll be back out here in a couple of hours with everyone else."

Danielle nodded as the pain in her stomach started to subside. She grabbed Flopsie and held her close to her as she stared at the wall distantly. The moonlight within the shed began to dim as Luke closed the door until it was surrounded by darkness, yet again…

**...To be continued.**

**A/N: Well this is the first chapter. Hopefully, this will interest you guys. I'm going to be doing this on top of Son of a Tyrant, but I'm not going to update weekly on this one. I'll have a day of the week arranged at some point.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Where Keith was a reflection of me in SoT, Danielle's interests are almost the exact opposite as mine… which meant that I had to look up a lot of stuff on google for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

As the morning sun rose, one of the cabin members, Luke, waited downstairs at the dining table for the rest of his group. His expression easily read anger and impatience as he tapped his fingers on the table waiting for the rest of his group to wake up. He had a rough, long night. He thought that he should have done more for Danielle but how could he when most of the group didn't care for her. Finally, Carlos, Nick, and Pete entered the conjoined kitchen and dining room. Nick had his hunting rifle at the ready and looked to Luke with a bit of a scowl. He was still angry about Luke punching him yesterday.

Luke leaned back in the chair and said, "You probably ain't going to need that."

"I'd rather not take my chances." Nick said.

"Let's go." Carlos said as he headed for the door.

"Hold on, Carlos." Luke said which stopped the man. He looked to Luke as Luke got up from his seat and walked up to the doctor. "Yesterday, when you tried to check on Danielle, you were too assertive. She was scared. You need to calm down this time, otherwise, you're just going to scare her again."

"You act like she's still alive." Nick snarled.

"She wasn't bit or scratched; she told me that yesterday." Luke said.

"Oh yeah and she must have told you that Atlantis existed too." Nick snarled.

"All right, all right. That's enough." Carlos said as he sent a glare towards Nick. He then turned to Luke and said, "I know that I acted wrongly yesterday. I'm going to try and be more patient with her this morning."

"Good, that's all I want." Luke replied. The four then walked outside. The morning dew was still fresh on the grass as the sun rose next to the house. The four quickly shielded their eyes from the harsh rays of the sun. They then eyed the shed and started to walk towards it.

Nick quickly took the lead and reached the shed first. He huffed as he leaned against the shed to take a listen for any moaning or growling. Upon hearing nothing, he opened the door hastily and raised his gun looking in all directions.

The loud creak of the door to the shed being open woke Danielle, and out of instinct, she jumped up. Thankfully, this time Nick didn't shoot at her and he was even shocked to see that she was still alive. He lowered his gun and said, "Everything's clear doc. She's all yours." Nick's voice was tinted with remorse as he realized that he had treated the young girl horribly. He walked out of the shed after Carlos entered with his head down.

Danielle couldn't help but not care how sorry he was. Either way, he was unnecessarily cruel and terrible to her. Carlos knelt down and said, "I know that I messed up yesterday. I'm sorry for my impatience and assertiveness. You were frightened and just came out of those woods, and I didn't help by acting the way I did."

Danielle was slightly surprised that the doctor would apologize for his actions yesterday. Luke and Pete walked in and Danielle said, "I'm sorry too…"

Carlos placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "There is nothing to be sorry for, Sweetie. Like I said, you were scared and it was only natural that you withdrew from us. We didn't exactly give you the best welcome." Danielle sent a small smile towards the doctor which gave him the hint that he was forgiven. "Come on, let's go ahead and check you inside." Carlos said as he got up. Danielle nodded and she placed her blanket and her stuffed animal toy, Flopsie, in her backpack. She then followed Carlos and Luke as Pete took up the rear.

* * *

><p>Carlos continued his observations as the rest of the Cabin member started to awake. Their voices could be heard in the room next to the kitchen. Danielle started to become antsy as she heard Rebecca in the next room. Normally she could stay calm under pressure, but as a price for admittance into the cabin, she had to give her gun and knife to the group as well as her backpack.<p>

"Calm down, Danielle. No one is going to hurt you." Carlos said noticing her skittish behavior.

Danielle shook her head and said, "Nick wants to and I'm not exactly Rebecca's favorite person right now."

Luke looked down sadly and was about to defend his friends when Carlos said, "Done." He backed away from the girl and walked towards Pete and Luke who waited for his analysis.

"Well, don't keep us waitin, doc. What's the verdict?" Pete asked.

"She's suffering from a mild form of starvation. I'll make sure to give her a couple glasses of water with sugar in it. That will build up her appetite again. I'll check her again at dinner. Thankfully, that's the only bad news." Carlos advised.

"That's good. So she'll make it?" Luke asked.

"Yes." Carlos said. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and start up breakfast." Carlos then walked outside the house to start up the generator which powered the stove.

Danielle got off the chair and she walked over to Luke and Pete. "Do you guys have a bed?" Danielle asked. "I'm kind of tired."

"Yeah, come with me darling." Pete said as he gestured for her to follow. Danielle walked with him and they left the conjoined kitchen and dining room and into the living room.

Danielle was shocked by how the living room looked. It looked almost like something from before the apocalypse. A coffee table sat at the center of the room with a couple of recliners and a sofa flanking it. The room was admittedly bright and cheery due to the warm atmosphere provided by the windows.

Three people were at the coffee table, two of which Danielle knew, Rebecca and Alvin. The other one was a teenage girl who stared up from her book and looked to the girl with a smile. She seemed to be the nicest person within the group which made sense because she was also the youngest.

Rebecca immediately scowled as Pete started to walk across the room with Danielle in tow. "Where do you think you're taking her?" Rebecca inquired.

"Upstairs so she can sleep." Pete replied.

"No way, she stays in sight at all times." Rebecca said as she glared at Danielle.

Danielle didn't return the glare, partly because she was tired and partly because she knew that the group was anxious of being around her. Pete sighed and asked, "You won't mind sleeping down here?"

Danielle shook her head to focus and she looked to Pete and said, "I don't mind."

"Good, thank you." Pete said somewhat disappointed that he couldn't give the girl a bed to sleep on.

Danielle went over to one of the lonely recliners and climbed onto it. She would have slept but Rebecca kept a constant glare towards her which made her extremely uncomfortable. Finally, Carlos came in from the kitchen and saved Danielle by saying, "Rebecca could you help me with breakfast? I'm having a little trouble."

Rebecca was slightly conflicted in helping Carlos, since she still believed that Danielle was working for Carver. Rebecca huffed and said, "Yeah, I'm coming Carlos." She got up and looked to Alvin as Carlos returned to the kitchen. "You make sure to keep an eye on her." Rebecca said as she gestured to Danielle.

"I will, honey." Alvin said. Rebecca nodded and went into the kitchen to help Carlos.

Danielle, finally, had a comfortable atmosphere to sleep in, now that Rebecca was out of the room. Alvin didn't quite share his wife's distrust. However, sleep was hindered yet again when the teenage girl looked to Danielle with a smile and said, "Hi, my name's Sarah."

"Hi, I'm Danielle, but you can call me Dani for short." Danielle introduced herself with tiredness evident in her voice.

"It's so nice to meet another girl my age. I mean it kind of gets lonely being the only person here that's younger than everyone else." Sarah said.

"I bet." Danielle said as she looked down tiredly at the floor. She barely paid attention to Sarah as she rambled on about how she would read to pass the time. If Danielle was at full strength, she wouldn't mind talking to the girl, especially about books. She liked to read as well, but she was just too tired.

"Anyway so what's your favorite book?" Sarah asked. She then looked to Danielle with a frown to see that she was passed out on the recliner.

Alvin couldn't help but feel sorry for the young girl. "Aw… poor girl. She must be really exhausted."

"I didn't mean to tire her out." Sarah said somewhat sadly.

"I don't think you did, honey. She spent the whole night sleeping on the floor of that shed outside." Alvin then got up and carefully lifted Danielle off of the recliner. The girl didn't stir a bit which showed that she was out cold. Alvin placed her on the sofa where he and Rebecca sat and placed a blanket over the young girl.

"Breakfast." Carlos said from the door of the conjoined kitchen and dining room. Alvin and Sarah walked towards the kitchen door allowing the young girl a moment's rest.

**Three Hours Later**

"Hey wake up." A familiar voice said. Danielle's eyes fluttered open as she was greeted with the sight of Luke standing in front of the sofa that she laid on. He held a glass of water with sugar mixed in it and said, "Here, Carlos said that you need to drink this." Luke said. Danielle sat up straight and stretched with a yawn. "You feeling better now, Miss Grouchy?" Luke asked with a playful demeanor.

"I was grouchy?" Danielle asked not picking up on the hint. "I'm sorry."

"No, Dani, I'm just-I'm only picking on you. Sorry." Luke said as he handed her the water. Luke sat down next to her as Danielle took some small sips. A few seconds later, Nick walked in from the conjoined kitchen and dining room.

Danielle jumped upon seeing the young man and she scooted closer to Luke feeling somewhat frightened by the man. Nick walked over to the one of the recliners and looked down sadly. He was ashamed of his actions from yesterday and this morning. He looked to the frightened girl as she went back to drinking the water so she could rebuild her appetite which would in turn rebuild her strength. "Hey listen…" Nick began which made the girl look at him. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for well… for being a dick out there. I got kinda agro and that definitely was not cool." Danielle placed the glass of water down and looked to Nick slightly surprised by the apology.

"Nick has been known to go off every once in a while. Don't hold it against him." Luke explained.

"I guess we all have our moments." Nick said.

"You definitely had one out there." Luke said.

"You were way out of line." Danielle said. Nick's eyes widened at the child's words. "You almost shot me yesterday, you threatened to kill me, and you've been treating me like crap ever since I showed up!" Her voice got progressively louder and angrier.

"But I…" Nick tried to say but Danielle interrupted him and said, "I know what you were trying to do, but that doesn't make it right. Sometimes sorry isn't good enough." Her words were accompanied with an icy tone which left no room for debate from Nick.

In turn, Nick looked down angrily and said, "Whatever." He then stormed out of the room and slammed the door to the kitchen.

Danielle was somewhat astonished by what she said but she felt good to have gotten all of the anger out. "Look, he means well." Luke said. Danielle looked up and he continued, "He just loses it sometimes."

"He would have killed me." Danielle protested.

"I know, I know." Luke said. "But he's not a bad guy. He just lost it out there, that's all. It was never personal."

"Then why did he make it seem so personal?" Danielle asked angrily.

"He was just scared Dani." Luke replied. "We have all been through a lot and Nick's been affected the most."

"I can't just automatically forgive someone who nearly killed me and has been treating me like crap." Danielle said as she looked down to the ground. She didn't want to forgive him. He was unnecessarily cruel to her.

Luke placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to him. "I don't expect you to forgive him immediately, like you said he's been horrible to you, but please give him a chance at redemption. Give him the chance to trust you…" Luke's words rang true in Danielle's ears. She may not forgive him now, but later on, he might do something that will help her.

"I'll need time, but one day, I will forgive him." Danielle said.

"Good, thank you." Luke said. Danielle went back to taking sips of the water as Luke asked, "So since you're pretty much on your own. What's your plan?"

"I think I'll stay here if the others don't mind." Danielle said.

"Well, they'll have to deal with it." Luke replied with a smirk. His smirk fell as Danielle took another sip of the water which was almost gone. "So… what happened to your parents… if you don't mind me asking?" Danielle slowly lowered her glass of water onto the table as the memories of what happened ran through her mind. "I mean, I assume what happened to them is the same as what happened to almost everyone's parents." Luke continued. "You're just so young… didn't think you could have made it on your own for so long…"

"Other people took care of me, if that's what you're asking." Danielle said.

"I was just curious." Luke said.

Danielle looked down and asked, "You want the whole story?"

"If you don't mind, then yeah." Luke replied.

Danielle looked up to the window and stared at it intensely as she began her story, "My mommy and dad met each other up at the UGA, University of Georgia in Athens. From there, they started dating and then they got closer until they were engaged. My mommy became pregnant and my dad waited in excitement for a baby boy, but when mommy bore me, he was so distraught that he ended the relationship and left us." Luke looked down sadly but the girl continued on. "I loved my mommy and, when the apocalypse occurred, she would do anything to protect me. But then there were these bandits in the area and they took me away from her."

"Why'd they take you away from your mother?" Luke asked.

Danielle wanted to remain vague in what they did to her so she responded. "I don't know. I got away from them and that's the important part." Danielle still didn't trust Luke enough to explain what happened to her. There were people in her old group like Luke. They became close to Danielle but not close enough for her to fully trust them with her whole story.

Danielle continued as she now stared at Luke. "After I got away from them, I saw that the St. John's Dairy was overran and I figured that was mommy's way of getting revenge on the bandits. The St. John's would usually give the bandits food for protection so by destroying the farm, mommy would eliminate the bandits' only means of food. But I was wrong." Danielle's voice started to crack and tears started to form in her eyes. She looked away from Luke and closed her eyes as she huffed to calm down. Luke looked to the young girl sadly as she continued, "I ran up to our camp and found my mommy dead. Someone shot her in the head." Danielle started to cry as the horrible image of her mother on the ground dead clashed with the memories of her mother taking care of her when she was younger.

"Oh my gosh." Luke said sadly. "Dani, I'm so sorry that happened to you." He brought his hands up and said, "Come here, everything's going to be alright." He then nudged her closer until, to Luke's surprise, Danielle wrapped her arms around his body. He brought his arms around her and soothed the child as she cried.

After several minutes of Danielle crying in Luke's side, she stood upright with a few whimpers escaping her mouth. "Are you okay?" Luke asked as he rubbed her back.

Danielle nodded and said weakly, "Yeah, I needed to get that off my chest." She then looked to him with a smile and said, "Thank you."

Luke smiled back and said, "You're welcome."

"Hey Luke." The two were interrupted when Alvin came in from outside.

"Yeah?" Luke asked.

"Come on, that firewood ain't going to cut itself." Alvin said in a joking manner.

"Yeah, sorry about that man, I was a little caught up." Luke explained.

"That's fine." Alvin said. "Meet me outside." Alvin then closed the door not wanting any more heat to escape from the house.

Luke got up and headed for the door. Danielle accompanied him and stood by the stairs. "Do you want me to help?" Danielle asked.

"Nah, Alvin and I got it." Luke said as he strapped on the harness that held his machete. He then leaned over to put his shoes on.

"What do you want me to do, then?" Danielle asked.

"Two things." Luke stated. Danielle looked to him attentively, ready for any assignments that he and the group needed done. "One, get healthy. Two, learn to be a kid again; Sarah could help you with the second." He then smirked as he opened the door and left, closing the door behind him. Danielle was left with a confused stare aimed at the door.

She decided to not fight the decision that was made and only shrugged as she finished her water at the coffee table. Afterwards, she went into the kitchen and noticed Carlos cleaning the dishes. He noticed her out of the corner of his eye and smiled, "Ah, Danielle, perfect timing." He then grabbed the empty glass out of her hand and started to wash it.

"You want me to help?" Danielle asked. "I could put away the dishes for you."

"No, I got it." Carlos said.

Danielle was surprised. Did they think she couldn't do anything? She may have been short, especially for her age, but she could still do normal chores and tasks. "Why don't you guys want me to help with the chores around here?" Danielle asked.

Carlos looked to her and said, "Because you need to take it easy. You are still suffering from mild starvation. Besides, what kind of hosts would we be if we forced you to do chores, when we don't force my daughter to do any chores? You're a child, Danielle; just relax." This felt very foreign to Danielle. Even before the apocalypse, she would always help her mom with chores. After the apocalypse, Danielle did a lot more chores, including washing clothes and cooking. After she lost her mom, she had to become completely independent until that group found her. However, things still didn't work out, and she was back to being independent. Now she had a group again and she didn't know what to do. "You know? Sarah could really use a playmate." Carlos said he dried one of the bowl and placed it in the cupboard. He then looked to Danielle and smirked, "And you look like you need someone to brush your hair."

Danielle reached up for her hair and felt it. A lot of it was caught in small knots. "I guess it could use some TLC." Danielle said with a smile.

"Good, first room on the right when you reach the top of the stairs." Carlos explained. Danielle nodded and she left the kitchen.

Danielle followed Carlos's directions and looked at the door. Fear and anxiety made Danielle nervous as she knocked on the door. She didn't want to be knocking on the door to Rebecca's or Nick's room. Finally the door opened and it revealed the young teenager that Danielle had met earlier. "Hi." Sarah greeted. "Come on in." Sarah then gestured for Danielle to come in to which Danielle complied.

Inside, the bedroom looked quite comfortable. The bed was neatly laid out with no crinkles in the bed covers. In the far right of the room was a book shelf with several books that Danielle couldn't wait to read, however she has read most of the books anyway. She then eyed a desk at the adjacent side of where she stood. The desk had what appeared to be a make-up box, a hand mirror, a brush, and two combs accompanying the brush.

"You're room is amazing." Danielle said.

"Thanks." Sarah replied. Sarah then looked at the girl with a concerned look. "Are you alright? You look like you have been crying." Danielle looked to Sarah perplexedly so Sarah continued with further detail, "Your eyes are puffy and your cheeks are red."

Danielle looked down sadly and admitted, "It's true, but I feel better now." Danielle finished her sentence with bit more optimism.

"Okay, that's good that you're feeling better." Sarah said. "So what do you want to do first?"

"Your dad sent me up here so I can get some of this tangled mess in order." Danielle said as she ran her hands through her hair.

"I have just the thing." Sarah replied. She then went over to the desk and searched around her make up box. After a couple of seconds of searching her make-up box, Sarah pulled out a small, white bottle labeled Aveda. "Come on." Sarah said as she pulled out the chair in front of the desk. She, also, grabbed both the finger-toothed comb and the wide-toothed comb.

Danielle walked over and sat down on the chair with her hands resting on her lap. Sarah then began to gently comb her hair. "Hey, sorry if I overwhelmed you this morning." Sarah said after a couple of seconds of silence. "I guess I got too excited when I saw another girl here."

"You didn't overwhelm me; I… I just had a few bad dreams last night, that's all." Danielle said.

"Aw, I'm sorry. I hope you're okay." Sarah said sympathetically.

Danielle looked down with her eyes as Sarah continued to comb the girl's knot-filled hair. The silence was long as Sarah continued to comb through Danielle's hair until Danielle broke the silence and said, "I saw you with you a book this morning. Do you like books?"

"Absolutely!" Sarah exclaimed. "I was re-reading one of my favorite books, _The Guurgles_."

"I never heard of that one." Danielle said.

"It's about trans dimensional body snatchers." Sarah said.

"That sounds really cool." Danielle said.

"I'll have to let you borrow it." Sarah said. Sarah then laid the comb down and she inspected her handiwork. "Well Dani, I got almost every knot out of your hair. I'll use my hair smoother get rid of the remaining knots." Sarah then grabbed the white container of Aveda and placed a small portion of it on her hand. From there, she applied it to the stubborn knots that didn't come loose from her brushing. "So, what's your favorite book?" Sarah asked as she continued to apply the hair smoother.

Danielle contemplated for a few seconds until she said, "My favorite book is probably… _The Hunger Games_. Katniss is the best!"

"Yeah I agree. I read the book and watched the movie." Sarah said.

"I was too young to watch the movie. What was it like?" Danielle asked.

"It was okay, but I liked the book better." Sarah said as she began to comb through the knots in Danielle's hair. "So Dani, where did you come from, if you don't mind me asking. I mean my dad and I came from Gatlinburg."

"I came from Macon, Georgia." Danielle replied.

"Gezz! That's a long walk." Sarah commented. "You made it all the way from there?"

Danielle shook her head and she replied with a tang of regret, "No, I had people who helped me, but they either died or left. It's just me now."

Sarah looked down sadly as she finished combing through the knots. "I'm sorry, Dani. I should stop talking."

"It's okay, Sarah." Danielle said but then she gave a playful smirk and said, "Come on, don't let my sour mood ruin your day."

Sarah smiled as she realized that Danielle was starting to joke with her. "All right." Sarah said. She then got in front of Danielle and combed her hair to make sure there were no more knots. "There, finished!" Sarah exclaimed as she set the comb down and presented the hand mirror to Danielle. Danielle looked at her hair and was amazed; her hair hadn't been knot-free and radiant as it was in the mirror since the beginning of the apocalypse.

"Thanks, Sarah!" Danielle exclaimed. "This is amazing."

Sarah smiled to Danielle and said, "Come on, I'm going to teach you how to play chess." With that the teenager took Danielle downstairs and they spent the remainder of their afternoon playing the board game. At some point, Carlos gave Danielle another glass of water with sugar added to it; she drank the liquid as she and Sarah continued to play chess. For the first time in two years, Danielle felt like she was a kid again.

…**To be continued**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"Sarah, Dani, it's time for dinner." Carlos said from the kitchen. Both girls nodded their heads and went into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Luke and Alvin came back in from a long day of work. Carlos went upstairs to inform everyone else that dinner was ready as Luke and Alvin went into the kitchen following the sweet aroma of the food.

"That smells good. What are we having?" Alvin asked.

Sarah wondered the same thing and went to the cooking pot to take a look. "It looks like mushroom soup." Sarah said. She then opened the stove upon smelling something else. "And… baked potatoes!" She then closed the stove door.

"Hmm… delicious." Alvin said. The door to the kitchen opened and in came Carlos, Pete, Nick, and Rebecca. Both Nick and Rebecca shot a nasty glare towards Danielle but she ignored both adults by focusing on Carlos.

Carlos cleared his throat and said, "As always, we will pray before we eat."

Everyone nodded their heads and bowed them in respect. "Dear God," Carlos began. "We thank You for Your many blessings and love. You have kept us safe yet again for another day. We have an additional blessing tonight in the form of our youngest and newest friend, Danielle. I pray if it is in Your will that You will protect her as you have protected us. As always, we thank You for Your blessing of the food that we are about to eat. May it nourish our bodies as we go through another long day tomorrow? We pray all these things, in Jesus name, Amen."

"Amen." The group said in response.

"Go ahead and eat." Carlos said to the group. He then looked to Danielle and said, "Danielle could you come with me? I want to check and see how you are doing."

Danielle nodded and she followed Carlos into the living room. He went over to the sofa and squatted down. Additionally, he patted the cushion in front of him. Danielle understood and she walked over and sat down on the sofa. Carlos checked her petite frame and said, "You should be okay to eat normally now. Do you feel any better?"

"Yeah, I'm not as tired and dizzy anymore." Danielle replied.

"Well, go ahead and eat." Carlos told the girl. In response, the girl nodded and got up to leave the living room as the doctor got up and looked out the dark window.

Danielle stopped in front of the doorway and turned to the doctor. "Carlos, thanks for everything."

Carlos turned and smiled to the young girl. "I'm going to turn in, Dani. I have had a long day." He then went upstairs to get some rest from the busy day.

Danielle walked into the kitchen and saw that the group was eating at the table. Danielle was about to go get a bowl when Luke said, "Dani, over here."

The others looked to her as she walked over to sit next to Sarah and Luke. The two accepted her to sit next to them as Luke gave Danielle a bowl of the mushroom soup. Pete and Alvin shot a smile at the young girl before going back to eating. As always, Rebecca and Nick scowled at Danielle but she ignored them. Sarah took a few spoonfuls of the soup as she looked over to the door. She finally broke the silence and asked, "Hey, where's my dad?"

"He turned in." Danielle replied.

"I can't say that I blame him. I'm ready to pass out." Alvin said.

Luke looked to Danielle and said, "You look different. Let me guess, Sarah did your hair."

"Yeah, she did an amazing job, too." Danielle said.

"I can tell." Luke said and he sent an appreciative stare towards Sarah. Sarah smiled back with a nod.

"What's on the 'to do' list tomorrow?" Nick asked his uncle.

"We got to go check the fish traps, first thing." Pete answered. Nick groaned in protest as he hated to go check the fish traps. Pete rolled his eyes in response; he knew that Nick wasn't going to make this easy.

"Heck, since we got all the firewood we need for the upcoming winter, how about you and I go on a run tomorrow to get any extra things, just in case we get snowed in." Alvin said to Luke.

Luke nodded in response as he took up another spoonful of the mushroom soup.

Eventually, one-by-one the cabin members finished their mushroom soup and placed their bowls in the sink to be washed, until it was only Danielle and Rebecca left. Rebecca showed no kindness towards Danielle as Danielle finished her bowl of soup. She then scooted back from the table and followed the others' procedure until she heard Rebecca say, "I wouldn't get comfortable here if I were you. You may have fooled the others but not me." Her voice was laced with bitterness and suspicion.

Danielle's eyes widened and she stared at the woman who got up and walked over to the young child. "What do you mean?" Danielle asked.

"Don't play that game." Rebecca said. "I am not my husband."

"I don't understand." Danielle said. She figured that the woman's distrust would have subsided by now, since Danielle was now a part of their group.

"Yes you do." Rebecca said somewhat accusingly. "You can fake a sob-story like that all you want, but I know what is true and what is pure bullshit."

Danielle's mouth dropped wide open at the woman's accusation. "That is not a sob-story. That is exactly what happened to me." Danielle said getting upset. Tears were starting to form in the child's eyes and her vision started to blur.

"You'd better watch your ass if you know what's good for you." Rebecca said in threatening tone. "By the way, you're not a member of this group, despite what Carlos thinks. The only way you will be a member of this group is by a unanimous vote, and you will never get my vote." Rebecca then approached the door and said, "The best thing you can do is leave, and if you show up again, I'll make sure that you regret it." She then opened the door and left the child to ponder her options.

Danielle looked down sadly as she looked over to her backpack. She went over and grabbed it from the counter as Sarah walked in. She went to Danielle and grabbed the child's arm with much enthusiasm. "Come on." Sarah said as she dragged Danielle from the room. "We're going to have a slumber party tonight."

"Wait, hang on." Danielle said. Sarah stopped dragging the girl and looked to the young girl perplexedly. "I got to get Flopsie, real quick. I can't sleep without her." Sarah looked even more confused until Danielle got her backpack from the counter and pulled her stuffed rabbit toy from her backpack.

Sarah couldn't help but smile at Danielle. "Aw, that's cute. I didn't know you had a stuffed animal toy."

"Yeah, I got her on my seventh birthday from mommy." Danielle said as she looked down sadly. Sarah looked to Danielle sympathetically and walked up and hugged the girl.

Danielle hugged back as a couple of tears escaped her. "I'm sorry." Danielle whimpered. "I-"

"Sh, it's okay. I've had two years to grieve for my mom's death but I still miss her." Sarah comforted the young girl.

They separated from the hug and Danielle huffed to stay calm. "Come on." Sarah said. Danielle nodded in agreement and she and the teenager went into the living room.

Sarah raced up the stairs thinking Danielle was right behind her until the door opened to reveal Pete. He looked to Danielle and smiled. "I was hoping to talk to you." Pete said. "I wanted to ask you if you want to go to the river with me and Nick, tomorrow. It's a good way to take stroll and clear your mind."

"You just read my mind." Danielle said. "Don't get me wrong, I like you guys and everything, but it's a little overwhelming in here."

"Trust me, I understand." Pete replied. "We'll be heading down late morning tomorrow. If everything goes right, we should be back by early evening." Danielle nodded and Pete took his leave to go into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

Danielle climbed the stairs and went into Sarah's room to see the girl on the left side of the bed reading a book. She looked up from her book and said, "Hey."

"Hey." Danielle said with a smile. She walked over and laid on the right half of the bed.

Sarah smiled towards Danielle and said, "Let's be best friend." Danielle looked to Sarah perplexedly as Sarah continued, "I mean we both like books, and I like hanging out with you."

"Sarah, I thought we were already best friends." Danielle said with a sincere smile.

Sarah smiled back and said. "Thanks Dani; it really means a lot." They looked to each other with a comforting stare, until Sarah yawned and said, "I'm going to go ahead and go to sleep. Good night Dani." Sarah said as she rolled onto her back and looked up to the ceiling.

Danielle smiled as she stared up to the ceiling as well. She thought of all the hardships, all of the struggles and sacrifices that her old group had made to ensure her safety. At least now, their efforts weren't in vain. Danielle snuggled closer to Flopsie as she allowed her eyes to close. Finally, sleep took her through a restful night, for the first time in years.

**Late Morning**

Pete was walking down a trail that he and the other cabin members used to get to the river as Danielle followed behind him, consumed by thought. Pete noticed that the girl was starting to slow her pace and asked, "How are you holding up? I heard you got an earful from Rebecca last night. Once she gets going, there's no bringing her back. Her bark is worse than her bite."

"I don't think she meant it; she's just stressed with the baby and everything." Danielle said.

"Exactly." Pete said.

Danielle pondered on what to talk about until a smile reached her lips and said in a delightful tone, "Sarah and I are best friends now!"

"Hey, that's good!" Pete said enthusiastically. "I knew you two would get along real nicely." They then walked over a door that now acted as a bridge. They walked in silence for a few more feet as Danielle eyed Pete's hunting rifle in interest. Pete picked up on her wondering expression and asked, "Hey did anyone ever taught how to shoot? And I mean shoot proper. Any idiot with a finger can shoot."

"Yeah, my friend Jace taught me." Danielle replied.

"Good it's important, nowadays." Pete said as he walked through an opening in the fence. Danielle followed as Pete continued, "Nick was about your age first time I took him hunting." Pete stopped as he continued to explain the story. "We came across this beautiful 13-point buck just standing there on the ridgeline." Pete then brought the rifle up as a demonstration of Nick holding it and continued, "The boy takes up the rifle... lines up the shot just like I taught him… then I hear him start whinin. He turns to me and says, 'I can't do it. I can't shoot it Uncle Pete. Please don't make me shoot it.'"

Confusion and curiosity spread across Danielle's face and she asked, "What happened? He went from being reluctant of firing a hunting rifle at a deer to having no remorse at firing at another human being."

"Ah… it's just how things have been going. There's still some good left in that boy but his head gets in the way. That boy has been through a lot, and he doesn't want to talk about it, like a normal person would." Pete explained. "He just wants to bottle it all up and unleash on some poor fool who passes his path the wrong way.

Danielle smirked and joked, "Compliment accepted."

A smirk formed on Pete's features and he joked, "Oh, did I say that out loud?"

Suddenly, an angry voice pierced the happy atmosphere around the two as Nick came into view and said, "Hey! Why didn't you wait?"

"You want us standing around while you're pissing on a tree? You know where the river is boy." Pete said. He then turned to Danielle and continued with the story, "Anyway, I grab the gun out of his hand before the big buck runs off, when BANG! The gun fires. The boy nearly gut shot me. And of course the buck gets away."

Nick scowled and exclaimed, "Why are you going and telling her this shit for?"

"Because you almost blew her face off yesterday. Seems relevant." Pete snapped. "Just trying to let her know that it is nothing personal with you."

"Why are you always giving me such a hard time?" Nick complained.

"Because you're always giving everyone else a hard time." Pete replied.

"I tried to apologize already, but she ain't having it." Nick explained.

"Well can you blame her? You were treating her like absolute shit the other day." Pete said. Danielle didn't reply and merely stared back and forth at the feuding adults.

"You're always trying to embarrass me." Nick complained.

"You're doing a good enough job of that on your own!" Pete snapped.

Nick shot a glare at the two and started to walk in the opposite direction from Pete and Danielle.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?" Pete snarled

"I'm going back to the cabin. F*** you both!" Nick growled.

"NICK!" Pete bellowed but Nick ignored him and headed back to the cabin. Pete shook his head, disappointed by Nick's attitude and said, "So, anyway… I came across that buck later that season. I shot it right in the neck. Brought it up to my sister's figurin she'd wanted to freeze some of the meat. Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes, you got to play roll, even if it means the people you love hate you for it." Pete then rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as he considered his own words.

"You should tell him that." Danielle said. "Maybe it will help you two to understand each other better. Either way, I promise you that he will appreciate everything that you are doing for him."

"You sound like you speak from experience." Pete said.

Danielle nodded sadly and said, "My mommy, I can't help but regret all of the mean things I ever said to her."

"The way I see it, if you love someone, that means you're going to get mad and lose your temper at times." Pete said.

"I never thought of it that way." Danielle replied.

"Come on, let's keep going to the river." Pete said and the two kept walking. Pete let out a disgruntled sigh and said, "I'm sorry about my nephew. He's just- He knows better than that… I mean, his mother and I raised him to be better than that. It's a damn shame that when push comes to shove, all that boy knows how to do is run in the opposite direction."

"Don't worry, one day, he'll become a respectful young man." Danielle encouraged as the neared the forest's edge.

Pete smiled at Danielle and said, "I really hope you're right." They were finally out of the forest and were looking at the river. "Oh, my stars and garters." Pete said as he looked around the area. There were bodies everywhere along the river bank. Pete went to observe one of the mangled bodies and shook his head in disgust. "Fulla holes." Pete said as he looked back to Danielle.

"Who could have done this?" Danielle asked.

"Not sure yet." Pete replied. "But it ain't your average gang of thugs that much I'm sure of. Dani, I'm going to check the bodies over here. Go check those bodies over there." Pete said as he gestured to a couple of bodies near a log. Danielle nodded and she went to the bodies as Pete yelled, "Be careful, some of em might still be moving!" Pete then went to investigate one of the nearby bodies.

Danielle looked over both bodies and checked to make sure that they wouldn't reanimate. She checked each of the pockets of the two bodies, but didn't find anything. Danielle got up and started to walk back to Pete when she noticed the bank on the small island.

"There are more on that island." Danielle said.

"This wasn't just your rinky-dink pissin match." Pete said as he got up from examining a couple of the bodies.

"Yeah, they don't have anything on them. So that means someone was imprisoning them and this was a massacre." Danielle said as she looked around the area.

"That's a good observation, Dani, but let's not jump to conclusions. For now, I'm going to label this: FUBAR." Pete said. He headed for the small island in the middle of the river. "Come on." Pete said as he treaded through the water.

Danielle nodded and she leapt for a boulder in the middle of the river. She then hopped off the boulder and walked up to Pete as he got onto dry land. "Keep an eye out on that tree line." Pete said as he indicated towards the forest's edge. "Whoever did this might still be around, waiting for another sucker…"

"Okay, I'm on it." Danielle replied.

"Listen, just don't put yourself in danger. If you see something other than a lurker coming, you let me know." Pete instructed. He then noticed a walker that had a flagpole sticking out of its chest. "Hm, same thing, shot to pieces; I hope this wasn't someone you knew." Pete said as he put his foot on the walker and took the flagpole out of its chest.

"Well, no." Danielle replied as she observed the walker.

"Good." Pete said as he killed the walker with the flagpole. Pete then looked up and noticed more bodies on the opposite shore. "Dammit, more on that side. You check out these ones. See if there's anything on them that'll tell us who they were." Pete then left the girl as he went to check the bodies on the other side.

Danielle looked over some of the bodies on the small island. None looked familiar to her and all of them were dead. She frowned as she continued to keep searching the bodies. Finally, she went up to the last body, but unlike the others, it looked familiar to her. She got closer to the body until it lurched and coughed to life. Danielle gasped as the man let out raspy breaths. She got closer and said, "Hello, are you okay?"

The man looked up to her with a slight smile, "Hey, Dani-Girl." The man coughed. Danielle's eyes widened as she realized who she was talking to. It was Jace! The man responsible in saving her life and teaching her how to shoot a gun.

"Jace!" Danielle exclaimed as she rushed to his side. She looked over his body with a noticeably horrified expression. It appeared that Jace was shot in the leg and back, dirt and blood covered him and he appeared pale. "Don't worry, I-I'm with a group. I can get you back and they'll-" Danielle tried to explain as she looked over to the other river bank looking for Pete. However, Pete was nowhere to be seen.

"Dani!" Jace interrupted her. She looked back down to him as he shook his head. "I know that I'm really close to death…" Jace huffed. "Listen to me… you have to get out of here. The guy who did all this, William Carver, is still out there." He started to cough violently as he spat up more blood. "Now go!" He wheezed. "But make sure I don't come back as a walker."

"I'm not leaving you!" Danielle protested, but it fell on deaf ears as Jace breathed out one last huff.

"Danielle!" Pete exclaimed. Danielle looked up to see Pete coming out of the forest. However, he wasn't alone. There were four walkers who were limping towards him. Additionally, he was oblivious to the danger as he asked, "Did you find-"

"WATCH OUT!" Danielle screamed but it was too late. A walker grabbed Pete and bit down on his shoulder. In a gruesome display, the walker ripped out one of Pete's arteries and he screamed in pain. "NO!" Danielle screamed in horror. The other walkers joined in as Pete fell to the ground and they entered into a feeding frenzy. All Danielle could do was watch on in horror until something grabbed her arm. It was a reanimated Jace. It growled as it tried to bite down on her arm. Danielle struggled as she tried to wrestle her arm away from the creature, all the while trying to get her survival knife. Finally, she grabbed the knife and stabbed the reanimated Jace in the skull ending its undead life.

By now, the area was starting to swarm with walkers. Danielle had no time to retrieve her knife as another walker got closer to her. She got up and avoided the walker's grasp. She then ran for the boulder that she used earlier to get to the island and jumped onto it. She quickly scanned for an efficient escape route and jumped onto the shore as several walkers started to pursue her. She ran as fast as she could through the forest, hoping that she could find some form of sanctuary.

**Back at the Cabin**

Nick slammed the door out of anger and frustration. He looked over to see Carlos and Sarah were having lunch and only grunted at them before entering the living room. Luke was sharpening his machete when he heard his friend stomp up to the second floor. Luke looked up the second floor just in time to shudder when a door from upstairs slammed shut. Carlos came out of the kitchen with a questioning stare. "What was that all about?" Carlos asked.

Luke got up from the sofa and shrugged. "I don't know." He said. "I probably should go talk to him." Carlos nodded in agreement.

Luke walked up the stairs and then to Nick's room. He knocked on door out of courtesy and waited for Nick to reply. However, he was greeted with a stress-filled voice snapping at him, "What?" Nick asked from the other side of the door.

"Hey man, something obviously happened. Let's talk." Luke said with concern.

"I don't want to talk, man." Nick said.

Luke sighed and asked, "Is Dani and Pete still at the river?"

"I don't know and I don't really care." Nick said coldly.

"Hey listen man, I know that Pete's been riding you lately but that's because he cares about you. He wants you to turn out alright." Luke said.

There was a long pause between the two until the door cracked open. Luke took it as his cue to enter and he went inside to see Nick on the bed with his head in his hands. He was clearly stressed out. Luke went over and placed a comforting hand on his friend shoulder and asked, "Are you going to be alright, brother?"

Nick huffed and said, "Yeah, I'll be fine." Luke smiled to his friend and he left the room. Nick sighed and he laid back on the bed. He looked up to the ceiling lost in thought.

* * *

><p>Danielle finally found sanctuary within an abandoned van. She leaned her small frame against it. She desperately looked for anything that could be used to block the doorway. Walkers kept banging on the van in a desperate attempt to get in. Finally Danielle saw some rope that was in arm's reach. She grabbed it and grunted as she kept the van doors shut while tying the rope in a double-knot. "I hope that holds those doors together." Danielle commented. Sensing that it would, Danielle took off her backpack and got out Flopsie. "What do you think Flopsie? Do you think we're safe?" However, the toy didn't respond so Danielle continued, "I hope we are." She then hugged Flopsie as she tried to process the whole situation.<p>

Tears formed in her eyes and she said, "Pete, I'm so sorry. I tried to warn you, but… and Jace, please watch over me." The bangs and the growls on the other side of the door intensified. Danielle was afraid that the door would burst open, but that was not the case. Finally, the banging subsided as Danielle started to drift off to sleep.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: I just want to say that I am not for or against Nick. So don't criticize me, Nick fans; I'm neutral when it comes to Nick. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I just want to let you guys know that I am NOT giving up on this fanfic. I like writing it, but I have a couple of ideas, and I want to get them out there to you guys. So the next update for this fanfic won't be for a while. Also, ADE you are going to hate me in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**Evening at the Cabin**

"House meeting!" Luke announced as he descended from the stairs. He heard one of the upstairs doors open and heard the grumbling of both Alvin and Rebecca as they climbed down the stair. Sarah walked past Luke and went to her room since the group didn't allow her to be part of house meetings. She walked upstairs as Alvin and Rebecca entered the kitchen. Luke looked over the group and said, "Listen, Pete and Dani went to the river a couple of hours ago. I don't know if they're hurt or whatever but we need to go out there and find them, just to see if they're okay." He then looked around and asked, "Who is coming with me?"

"I'll go." Nick said with slight pang of remorse. "I should have stayed with them to begin with."

"I'll go too." Alvin said.

Rebecca looked to Alvin and pleaded, "Alvin don't."

"It's going to be okay, Bec. I'll be back before you know it." Alvin said. Alvin smiled to his wife to lift her spirits, to which he succeeded.

"Just be careful, Alvin." Rebecca said.

"I will, baby." Alvin replied and he kissed her. Alvin then followed Nick and Luke into the living room and the three went to the closet which held the household's weapons.

Luke took the machete and sheathed it along with a handgun as Nick and Alvin grabbed their hunting rifles. They headed for the door and left the cabin to go down towards the river.

* * *

><p>"I think they're fine Luke." Nick said as they continued down towards the river. "You know Pete and I will sometimes be at the river until three in the afternoon."<p>

"I know." Luke replied. "But, they've been gone for too long. Pete wouldn't let Dani stay out here this late."

"He's right." Alvin agreed. "Dani's just recovering from mild starvation. Pete knows better than to keep her out here this long."

Nick was now frightened that his uncle might be in danger. He started to pick up a faster pace and was almost running to the river until it came in sight. "Nick, slow down." Luke said.

Nick finally reached the river to which he saw a grizzly scene. There were bodies everywhere and walkers were limping and moaning in several different direction. A nearby walker sniffed the air and growled in satisfaction as it eyed Nick. Nick glared at the creature as it stretched its arms out to try and attack him. Nick slammed the butt of his rifle on the creature's skull which stunned it. He then adjusted his grip and fired at the walker.

Luke and Alvin ran out from the forest and all three men started to open-fire at the walkers. They managed to kill several walkers and soon the area appeared to be clear. "I-I think we're good!" Luke said.

"Yeah for now." Alvin said. He looked over the area to see several bodies scattered everywhere. "What the f****** hell happened here? It looks like a f****** massacre."

"This had to been Carver." Nick said. "Who else would gain from this?"

"We got to get back to the house and warn Bec and Carlos." Alvin said.

Luke got down on his knees and examined one of the bodies. "There's hope that Dani and Pete are still alive." Luke said. "These bodies are old, nothing indicates that this was recent."

Nick looked down and gritted his teeth. He then looked back up and refocused. "Uncle Pete?" Nick exclaimed

"Dani, are you here?" Luke yelled as he got up.

Alvin looked to the forest's edge and said, "We need to hurry up with this you two. Otherwise, we're going to have a whole horde on top of us."

"Uncle Pete?" Nick shouted. Suddenly a small growl could be heard to his right. There, he saw the reanimated Pete as it slowly got up. Dried and dark red blood covered his once green coat. Half his arm was gone while he extended the other arm towards Nick. And Pete's kind eyes was replaced with the emotionless eyes that is shared among all walkers. "Pete…" Nick said and he started to cry. "Pete, PETE!" Nick exclaimed as he shakily raised his gun to fire but he couldn't. He stood stiff until a loud gunshot echoed through the air.

Nick looked back to see that Alvin was the shooter and Luke was racing towards him. Luke got to Nick and saw Pete on the ground. "I'm sorry, brother." Luke apologized to Nick. The two friends hugged as Nick cried on Luke's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts. I've been where you are at… everything's going to be alright."

Alvin approached the two and looked over Pete sadly. "Poor guy…" Alvin said as he shut the eyelids of his deceased friend.

"He's gone Nick. He-He's gone. Come on, we got to get moving. Come on man." Luke said as he tried to physically force his friend to move on. Nick brushed him off and looked down to his deceased uncle with a regretful stare.

"I was so angry at him, if only I would have known…" Nick trailed off as he started to cry again.

Luke allowed him to grieve and he turned to Alvin. "Did you find Dani?" Luke asked sadly.

"Kind of." Alvin replied. He then handed a survival knife to Luke.

Luke took the blade and examined it. "This is Dani's knife!" Luke exclaimed. "Alvin, show me exactly where you found this."

Alvin nodded and he gestured Luke to follow him. They went to the island and approached one of the bodies. "I found it in the skull of this one." Alvin indicated to the body of Jace.

Luke examined the area as Nick finally regained his composure. He walked up to Luke and Alvin and asked, "What's going on?" His voice was tinted with sadness and loss.

Luke got up and said, "No fresh red blood, which means Dani might still be alive. We got to go find her."

"Now hold on Luke." Alvin said. "I swear that I do want to go and try to find that little girl, but we got to go warn Bec and Carlos. If Carver's behind this, then he is probably still skulking around the area. What if he finds the cabin?"

"I agree with Alvin." Nick added. "Three of our friends' lives is more important than a little girl who we just met."

"No guys, Dani is going to need our help, right now." Luke said. "Our group is fine in that cabin. Dani, on the other hand, is out here all alone."

Alvin looked down sadly and nodded. "You're right. We got to find her."

"Like hell, we're going to go find her." Nick snapped.

"Nick, Pete may have given up his life to save that little girl." Luke said. "Are you really willing to let his sacrifice be in vain? And even if he didn't, he would do anything to protect that girl, just like how he had been protecting you." Nick looked down sadly and nodded his head as a gesture that he was now wanting to find Danielle.

"Alright, most important thing, we stick together." Luke said as growls and moans could be heard coming from the forest. The three looked towards the forest's edge to see a new swarm of walkers heading right for them.

"Shit, we'd better move." Alvin said as he raised his hunting rifle in defense.

"I agree." Luke said as he looked around the shoreline. "There, come on!" Luke exclaimed as he jumped from the island onto the opposite shore. He slashed at a stray walker that stood in his way from getting to the forest as Nick and Alvin followed. The three ran into the woods and began their desperate and long search for Danielle.

**Morning**

Danielle yawned as the morning sun pierced through the windows of the abandoned van. She got up and stretched as she looked at her surroundings. She sat back down and picked up Flopsie and looked at her stuffed rabbit toy. Danielle remained quiet as she stared at Flopsie until she heard a sudden and angry growl with a bang from the back of the van. She jumped in fear and gasped until she realized it was just a walker. Once again the hopeless banging from the walkers filled the air as Danielle slumped down behind the driver's seat and moaned in frustration.

Meanwhile, outside, two survivors surveyed the scene of the abandoned van with three walkers banging on it. One of the survivors was a woman who wore an orange hooded sweater, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a pair of black shoes. The woman's ally was a young girl who wore a purple and white stripped long-sleeve shirt underneath a purple t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, a pair of blue shoes, and a blue and white baseball hat with the letter 'D' on it. "Come on, Clementine." The woman said. "Just stay low and look where you are walking."

"But Christa, what if someone is in there?" Clementine asked.

"I'm sorry Clementine, but we can't take the risk. You trust no one out here, understand?" Christa said.

Clementine looked down sadly and nodded her head. Christa then sent a sad look to her young friend and gestured her to move. Christa and Clementine started to walk past the scene until someone yelled, "Don't move!" This attracted the walker's attention and their lifeless eyes turned to the two.

The person who shouted held a hunting rifle towards the two as the walkers got closer. Unfortunately, the man with the hunting rifle was at an angle where he couldn't see the walkers approaching Christa and Clementine. The man and the walkers were getting closer. "Shit!" Christa said and she reached for her hand gun until the man with the hunting rifle fired and nearly shot Christa.

"I told you to not move!" The man bellowed.

Christa now had a good look at the man. He wore a dark green shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt, a pair of camouflage pants, a pair of black boots, and an orange hat which was almost the same one that her deceased friend, Kenny, wore. "Hey asshole, I don't know if you know this, but there are walkers over here!" Christa shouted at the young man. Clementine got up and she joined Christa.

"I ain't falling for that shit." The man, Nick, exclaimed. "Now who are you working for?"

Christa glared at Nick but then looked back to see the three walkers getting dangerously close to her and Clementine. Christa instinctively backed away until another loud shot rang through the air. Clementine jumped and Christa looked back up to Nick. "This is your last f****** chance!" Nick shouted. "Tell me who you are working for or you die!"

A walker was getting closer to Christa and the other two were getting closer to Clementine. Finally, Nick noticed the walkers and his eyes widened. "Shit!" Nick spat and he shot the walker that came close to Christa. She looked over to Clementine and grabbed her knife and stabbed one of the creatures in the skull. However, the other one was getting closer to Clementine. Clementine weaved away from the walker and waited for the man to fire his gun, but instead of a loud thunderous roar that was typical of a hunting rifle, he heard a click. "Ah, f***! Of all times!" Nick exclaimed. Clementine looked back to the walker as it got closer until there was another shot fired.

She looked to her left to see that the shot came from Danielle who had gotten out of the van. Danielle lowered her gun as she looked at Clementine and Christa. Christa finally managed to pull her knife out of the walker's skull and she looked over to Clementine. She ran to the girl and squatted down to her eye level. "Clementine, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am thanks to her." Clementine gestured to Danielle. Christa looked up to Danielle with an appreciative smile. Danielle approached the two and Christa said, "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Where the f*** have you been?" Nick exclaimed angrily as he approached Danielle. "My f****** uncle is dead and we've been combing through these f****** woods searching all over for you!"

Suddenly, Christa grabbed her handgun and pointed it towards Nick. Nick's eyes widened and he said, "Whoa, whoa, okay..." He raised his hands in the air in defeat and said, "Look that was my bad back there. I-I didn't who you were."

"Drop the gun." Christa said with an icy cold tone as she glared at the man. Nick obeyed and laid his weapon on the ground. Christa then picked it up and handed it to Clementine to keep a hold of. "You better have one hell of an explanation on why you held me and my girl hostage like that."

"I-I'm sorry, I thought you were with someone else." Nick explained.

Christa kept a glare at the man until all four of the survivors could hear rustling from the bushes nearby. Luke and Alvin came out of the brush and both were shocked to see Nick being held at gunpoint. Alvin raised his rifle on instinct but Christa quickly reacted by grabbing Nick and placing her pistol to his temple.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Luke exclaimed as he got between Alvin and Christa. "What's going on?" Luke asked.

"This dumbass held me and my girl at gun point and nearly killed us with the walkers." Christa explained in her icy cold voice. Meanwhile, Danielle stood behind Christa and Clementine and stayed out of sight, waiting for the current situation to be resolved.

"Hey come on now, I said that I was sorry." Nick said.

"Christa, please this isn't the way. Just let him go." Clementine begged her guardian.

"He's with me." Danielle said as she walked next to Clementine. "Please don't hurt him." Christa lost her icy stare and she shoved Nick out from her grip. He looked to Christa with an apologetic look as Christa shot a glare at him.

"Danielle!" Luke and Alvin exclaimed simultaneously. Luke ran over and he hugged the girl. She returned the hug and the two separated. Luke held her by her shoulders and looked her over. "Are you alright? Got any bites?"

"No, I'm good." Danielle replied. "I'm really sorry about Pete…" Danielle said sadly.

"Hey, that's alright. Pete would be happy to know that you at least made it out of there." Luke then got up and looked at Christa. "Thank you for taking care of her." Luke said as he then extended his hand and continued, "The name's Luke. And, uh, sorry about Nick. He's been on edge since he lost his uncle."

"I'm Christa. Don't worry about earlier; I think mistakes were made on both sides." Christa said with a friendlier demeanor as she shook the young man's hand. "And I didn't look after your girl. If anything, she saved mine."

"Wait, what? N-No, I-I'm not her dad." Luke replied. "I'm just looking after her."

Christa chuckled, "You could have fooled me."

"Anyway, you already met Nick." Luke said as he glared at his friend. "Our other man is Alvin." Luke then gestured to the gentle giant over by the bushes.

Alvin approached the group and said, "Sorry about aiming my gun at you earlier; I thought you were going to kill Nick."

"Don't worry about it." Christa said. "No one got hurt." Christa then turned to Luke and said, "This is Clementine." Christa gestured to her young ally.

"Hi." Clementine said as she waved to the four new people.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both." Luke said. "Listen, we got a cabin that's a bit of a hike from here, but we can give you some food, supplies, and a night's rest."

"I can't do that." Christa said. "Clementine and I need to keep moving on to Wellington."

"Wellington?" Alvin asked. "What in the world is that?"

"A safe zone up north, near Michigan." Danielle replied. "I was going there too."

Clementine smiled to the young girl and said, "We can go there together!"

"That would actually be a good idea." Christa said. "You three look strong. And I think Clementine could use a playmate." Clementine and Danielle smiled toward each other.

"I'm sorry, but we can't." Luke said. "We got people waiting on us to return."

As Luke said this, there was rustling coming from the nearby bushes. Christa and Danielle raised their handguns, Luke unsheathed his machete, and Alvin raised his hunting rifle. They nervously awaited for whatever was in the bushes, whether walker or human. Finally, Carlos and Rebecca came out of the bushes surprised by everyone raising their weapons at them.

Luke let out a sigh of relief upon seeing them and said, "Thank goodness! I'm glad it's just you two." Luke then looked to Christa and said, "It's alright. They're friendlies. They're actually a part of my group."

"Where have you been?" Carlos inquired as he approached Luke. "We've been waiting for you to return for hours."

"Who the f*** are these people?" Rebecca hissed gesturing towards Christa and Clementine. Christa shot a glare towards Rebecca for her hostility.

"Wait, where's Sarah?" Danielle exclaimed.

"I-I left her at the house." Carlos said. "I-I didn't have a choice. We were worried about you all being out here for so long and I figured she would be safer in the cabin than out here."

"No, no, no!" Danielle exclaimed horrified by what she was hearing.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

Everyone else was looking at Danielle with a questioning stare as she tried to calm down. "You went to the river, right?" Danielle said. Luke, Alvin, and Nick nodded as Danielle continued, "When I was there, I found an old friend of mine, Jace. He told me that the person responsible for that massacre was William Carver and that he was still out here somewhere."

"WHAT!" The cabin members exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh." Carlos said. His eyes widened in horror and he then ran off towards the cabin.

"Carlos wait!" Luke exclaimed. "Shit! Come on y'all!" Luke said. He then ran after Carlos. Danielle, Nick, Christa, and Clementine ran after Luke. Rebecca lost focus of not trusting Danielle, Christa, and Clementine and she ran after the group as well. Alvin joined his wife as they ran as fast as they could to get to the house.

**30 Minutes Later**

Carlos bursts through the door and called for his daughter frantically. "Sarah! Sarah!" Carlos started to hyperventilate when she didn't come through the kitchen door. He pushed through the door and went into the living room. His eyes widened in horror and sadness as soon as he ran into the living room. He stared at his daughter who laid on the floor facing away from him.

"Carlos!" Luke exclaimed as he, Clementine, Christa, Nick, and Danielle ran into the house from the door in the kitchen.

Carlos ran to his daughter and got down in front of her. "Sarah?" Carlos said tearfully. He now had a good look of his daughter. Her face was covered in blood and bruises, her left eye was beaten to nothing, and a knife hilt stuck out of her thigh. He shook his head in utter disbelief and started to cry

Luke and company came out of the kitchen and looked on horrified as the doctor cried in front of his battered daughter. "Oh my gosh…" Luke said. Nick lowered his head sadly in respect of the young girl, Christa looked to Carlos sadly while hugging Clementine close to her, Danielle looked down sadly as tears started to form in her eyes, as well.

"…Dad?" Sarah said weakly.

"Sweetie, it's alright. I'll go get some medical supplies, and I'll-" Carlos started to say.

"Dad…" Sarah looked at him with her only good eye and said, "It's alright. I'm going home to see mommy."

"No Sweetie. Stop it!" Carlos said sadly.

"You'll be okay…" Sarah said to her father. "I love you." Sarah then exhaled one last time.

Carlos stared at his daughter and cried, "No, NO! Sarah stay with me!" He turned her body onto its back and tried to perform CPR on her but to no avail. Sarah was dead and there was nothing he could do to change that. "Luke go get my medical bag." Carlos told the young man in a hopeless attempt to revive his dead daughter. Rebecca and Alvin finally rushed in from the kitchen and both of their eyes widened when they saw Sarah. "Rebecca, I need you to keep Sarah awake. I-"

"Carlos." Luke said sadly and he walked towards him. He crouched down to look Carlos in the eye and said, "I'm sorry Carlos, but Sarah is gone."

"NO! SHUT UP!" Carlos bellowed. "I-This can't be happening! I promised Elora that I would protect her!" Carlos then got up and went to the window as the hopelessness of the situation finally sunk in. "I-no-I…" Carlos then trailed off and started to cry. "I failed you, Elora. I'm sorry… I couldn't protect our daughter…" He cried in the palm of his hands as Rebecca and Alvin approached the man. They both hugged and comforted the doctor over his recent loss as Luke walked back over to the remaining members.

"Wh-What do you want me to do, man?" Nick asked solemnly.

Luke huffed and said, "If you could go outside and start digging a grave for Sarah's burial, Carlos and I would appreciate that." Nick nodded and went to the kitchen and outside to go to the shed.

Luke looked to Christa and said, "I know I'm asking a lot from you but…" Luke then sighed. The next set of words would be very difficult to think, let alone say. "Could you make sure Sarah doesn't come back?

"Of course." Christa said sadly. She then looked to Clementine and asked, "Will you be okay by yourself while I do this?" Clementine nodded sadly and Christa walked over to Sarah's body.

Luke finally looked at Danielle who was trying everything she could to not cry at the moment. Luke got down to her eye level and brought the young girl in for a hug. Danielle accepted the hug and allowed herself to cry.

"Sh… it's alright, baby." Luke soothed. "Just let it all out." Luke rubbed circles on the girl's back as she continued to cry over the death of her friend.

**Evening**

The funeral for Sarah and Pete was the most depressing event that the cabin survivors had gone through. They have lost their oldest and youngest member in a matter of two days. Rebecca looked down at the unfinished chess game that Danielle and Sarah were playing two nights prior. Her husband, Alvin, sat next to her trying to comfort her. Danielle sat across hugging Flopsie close to her as Clementine did her best to comfort the younger girl. Christa, Luke, and Nick were busy gathering whatever items they could for the long trek to the mountains. Luke said that they weren't safe in the area anymore and that they would start the trek at dawn. Carlos was in his room being completely depressed over his daughter's death.

Luke walked into the living room along with Christa and he said, "Thank you for helping us. As you can tell, this is a pretty rough time for us."

"You're welcome." Christa said with a smile.

"I guess tomorrow we can go our separate ways. You can head north to Wellington. As for us, we'll have a better chance of going northeast to the mountains. We should be able to lose Carver and his men there." Luke said.

"You know, Wellington's not going anywhere any time soon and…" Christa trailed off and looked to Clementine with a smile. "Back there when we first met you, I haven't seen her that happy in a long time. I have spent so much time in protecting her from getting hurt that I forget that she's still just a little girl." She looked back to Luke and smiled, "I want to come with you guys. Even though your friend Nick is a bit of a dick, I think the rest of you are decent people."

Luke smiled and said, "Thank you." Luke looked over to Danielle and sighed, "I'm worried about her. She's lost so much already... and now this has happened."

Christa looked to Luke and said, "So has Clementine. Everyone that she was with at the beginning of all this madness is gone which included her guardian, Lee. She also found her parents in Savannah, they were walkers." Christa said sadly. "And then after all that, I lost my boyfriend, Omid, to this scavenger. He and Clementine were very close; he and I were very close." She looked down sadly until Luke placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiled back as Luke sent a comforting stare. Christa then looked to Clementine and Danielle and said, "Don't worry, they have each other. They'll fix each other. I don't have a doubt about that."

Luke smiled and said, "Thank you." The two then joined everyone at the dining table and they all spent the remainder of the night playing card games, until one-by-one they all went to bed…

**...To be continued.**

**A/N: Sorry Sarah-fans, but hey look at the bright side, we got Christa back! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**This chapter might have some disturbing content… maybe… I don't know. Anyway, I warned you.**

Luke yawned as he, Nick, and Christa were the only ones still awake. Rebecca and Alvin were the first to turn in that evening, followed by Clementine and Danielle who took what was Sarah's room. He looked to Nick and Christa and said, "I think it's about time for us to turn in."

"I agree." Christa said. "We got a long walk tomorrow."

"What's this 'we' stuff? You ain't a part of our group." Nick spat.

"Yes, she is, Nick. So deal with it." Luke said with a glare.

"Why do you trust her so much for?" Nick asked.

Luke lost his glare and looked down sadly. "Because she was the one to make sure Sarah didn't come back." Luke replied. Nick's eyes widened in surprise as Luke continued, "I was too busy comforting Dani, and I didn't have the strength to do what she did."

Nick looked to Christa with an apologetic look and said, "Thank you for doing that and sorry for all the shit I've been giving you."

"It's fine." Christa said. "I don't exactly trust you very much right now anyway, but I'll stay."

A minute of tension passed by the three until Luke huffed and said, "You two go ahead and turn in." He then got up and continued, "I'm going to go check on Carlos." Luke then headed for the stairs.

"Be careful, man." Nick said as he got up and headed for the stairs as well. Christa stayed downstairs and used the couch as her bed for the evening.

Luke reached the top of the stairs and headed for Carlos's room as Nick headed for his room. Luke slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door slightly so that he could see through the crack. He saw Carlos sitting on the bed with something in his hand. On his nightstand rested his 8 mm handgun. "Come on in, Luke." Carlos said as he closed his book without looking to the young man.

Luke proceeded to do as the doctor asked and said, "I just came to check on ya." Luke said. "How are you holding up?"

Carlos sighed and said, "Do you remember what I said to Elora, the day she died?"

"I reckoned, yeah." Luke replied. "You said that you would protect Sarah at any and all cost." Luke stated the last part of the sentence sadly as Carlos placed the book, which was a Bible, on the bed and got off of the bed to face Luke.

"You understand, then. I have failed both my wife and my daughter." Carlos said and he quickly grabbed his 8 mm handgun off of the nightstand and pointed it under his chin.

Luke raised his hands and said, "C-C-Carlos… I-I know how you feel right now. I lost everyone I ever cared about from all of this too, but you can't do this."

"You're a good man, Luke. You'll have to be a strong leader if you want everyone to keep going, but I'm not worried. I know you will do well." Carlos said as his finger came closer to the trigger.

"Think about Rebecca…" Luke said in a pleading tone. "You're the only person who can deliver that baby. If you pull that trigger, then you pull the trigger on Rebecca's baby."

"I taught Alvin what to do, just in case something was to happen to me." Carlos said.

"But he doesn't have your skills and experience." Luke said.

Carlos huffed one last time and said, "Good-bye Luke and thank you for everything." Carlos's finger squeezed the trigger as Luke could do nothing but watch on in horror.

There was a loud roar that echoed through the house followed by Luke shouting, "CARLOS!"

Both Clementine and Danielle shot up and gasped upon hearing the loud bang and exclamation. "That sounded like a gun." Danielle said.

"Come on." Clementine said and the two ran out of their room. They looked over and saw all the adults around Carlos's door. Clementine noticed her guardian at the doorway and went up to her, "What's going on, Christa?" Clementine asked.

Christa looked down sadly and sighed. She debated whether to tell the girls about Carlos's demise but then figured that Clementine was strong since the incident with Lee and Omid. Additionally, Luke did tell her that Danielle has been on her own for a while. "Carlos committed suicide." Christa said sadly.

Both girls looked wide eyed at Christa and their mouths dropped. Inside Carlos's room, Luke was on his knees and kept in place like a statue. His face read shock and disbelief as Nick stood over him with a supportive hand on his shoulder. Alvin and Rebecca looked on sadly at the body of the deceased doctor. They both knew that Sarah was all he had left, and it must have affected him so much that it drove him over the edge.

Danielle and Clementine decided that they would pay their respects to the deceased doctor once he was buried and headed back to their room. Christa sighed as she went into Carlos's room and said, "We are going to need to bury him. We can't have the body rot out in the open, especially with the girls."

"I know, I… I just need a minute." Luke said as he looked to the body.

Christa went closer to Luke and said, "I think you need to get some sleep. The rest of us will take care of Carlos."

"I-no I can't-" Luke stuttered.

"Just go get some rest. We'll handle this." Nick interrupted him

"You've had a long day, Luke. Just go and rest." Rebecca said. Alvin nodded in agreement.

Luke sighed and nodded his head in defeat. He struggled to get up as Christa and Nick helped support him. He then staggered out of the room and toward his own where he could get some sleep.

Christa sighed as she looked to the body of the doctor as Nick said, "I'm going to go start digging a grave for the burial." He then left the room to the three adults and Christa got down to pick up Carlos's body. She grunted at the weight of the man but was able to carry him.

She headed down the stairs with his body being careful not to hit it off of anything. She laid him down on the sofa and waited for the go ahead from Nick and sat in one of the recliners. Alvin entered the room and said, "Go ahead and sleep. I'll take care of Carlos."

"I don't mind and I've had sleepless nights before." Christa said.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Alvin said. "Besides, Carlos was my friend."

Christa looked to the man and said, "Okay." She got up and went upstairs to take one of the unused beds as her own. Alvin waited downstairs for Nick to finish shoveling. Rebecca, Luke, Danielle, and Clementine found sleep until the funeral services that were held hours later.

* * *

><p>It was past mid-day as the group walked on the trail toward the mountains. Christa and Clementine were at the very front of the group, Luke and Danielle were behind them, followed by Rebecca and Alvin, and finally Nick who was still mourning for his uncle. The tone throughout the group was depressing and saddening.<p>

"Hey Dani." Rebecca said as she approached the young girl. "Sorry if I gave you some shit back there. It's just a stressful time with the baby and everything."

"Why would Carver do something like that?" Danielle asked.

"I don't know. Bill must have gotten worse after we left." Rebecca said sadly.

"Left from where?" Christa asked as she turned to address Rebecca.

"From Howe's Hardware; we escaped from that place and made that cabin our home." Luke responded. Christa nodded understandingly and went back to looking at the road with her young ally by her side.

"Anyway, hopefully you understand." Rebecca said.

"Yeah, I do." Danielle replied.

"Good, thank you." Rebecca said as she started to lag behind to join Alvin.

Luke accompanied Danielle again while looking back to Nick worriedly. Nick has slowly gotten worse since Pete's passing even to the point of holding a struggling woman and defenseless child at gunpoint. Luke turned to Danielle and said, "Listen, I'm still worried about him." Luke gestured to Nick. "Could you keep an eye on him for me?"

"I'm not sure what I can do, but yeah I'll try my best." Danielle replied.

"Alright, thank you." Luke said. "You sure you want to come with us? Look, I know we got off to a rough start. And it probably ain't going to get better."

"Yeah, I'm with you guys." Danielle said.

"And we are happy to have you." Luke said.

"Not everyone." Danielle said as she looked back to Rebecca and Nick.

"Yeah, well they'll get there." Luke said.

Christa looked to Luke and asked, "So how far till we reach those mountains? Are they close?"

Luke shook his head and said, "No, they're about a four or five day walk from here."

"Five days?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"It's going to be okay, Bec." Alvin said supportively.

"We have to keep moving, now; it's our only option." Luke said. With that, the group remained quiet as they moved through the forest in a desperate attempt to lose their hostile pursuers.

**5 Days Later**

The group finally stopped to rest at the edge of a cliff which looked out to the mountains that they were heading for. Rebecca was especially tired after the long trek. Christa and Alvin checked up on Rebecca as Clementine joined Luke in looking at the map. Meanwhile, Danielle climbed up a large boulder. She finally reached the top and pulled out a pair of binoculars that were in her backpack. "There's a huge building on the top of the mountain." Danielle said as she scanned the mountain.

"That's probably the ski lodge that were aiming for." Luke said. "See anything else?"

"I see a lift of some kind." Danielle said as she adjusted her binoculars left of the large building.

"A ski lift probably." Alvin said. "Bec and I went on once."

"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca chuckled.

"I never went skiing." Danielle said somewhat sadly. Clementine joined Danielle indicating that she had never gone skiing as well. Danielle kept searching the mountain until she spotted a bridge. It looked somewhat passable but it certainly wasn't in the best of shape and there was also a small house right next to it. "I see the bridge and there's a house next to it."

"How big is the house?" Luke asked.

"It's really small." Danielle replied. "I'm coming down. Can someone catch me?"

"Yeah, I'll catch you." Luke said. Danielle slowly got to the edge of the boulder and sighed. She then pushed herself off of the edge. She yelped on the descent until Luke caught her and said, "See? I told you that I would catch you, kid."

"So how, should we do this?" Christa asked Luke as he placed Danielle on the ground.

"Dani and I can scoot across that bridge low slow and make sure it's safe to pass." Luke said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Christa asked. "I know Dani might be capable, but she's still the youngest member in our group."

"Yeah, I agree with Christa. I'll come with you instead." Nick offered.

"No, we'll be fine, won't we Dani?" Luke asked.

Danielle only shrugged unsure of what to say. Luke looked to her sadly for not supporting his decision as Nick spoke up, "See? Even she knows it's too much for her."

Christa crouched down in front of Danielle and took her hands into hers to get the young girl's attention "Sweetie, are you going to be able to get across that bridge safely with Luke by your side?" Christa asked.

Danielle stood their silent for a couple of seconds until she said, "I can do it."

Christa nodded and stood back up and said, "Well we got our answer."

Luke nodded and said, "We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side."

"We will and be careful with her." Christa said placing her hands on her hips.

Luke nodded and he headed for the bridge. "If something happens, I'll cover you." Nick said as Luke was getting ready to head out

Luke nodded and looked to Danielle. "Come on." Luke said with a head gesture to move on.

* * *

><p>The way to the bridge was quiet as Luke looked to Danielle and asked, "Are you alright? I know that what happened back there with Sarah and Carlos was rough, but…"<p>

Danielle couldn't take it anymore. What happened to Sarah reminded her too much of what happened to her with the bandits. For the past couple of nights, she had been tossing and turning in her sleep with nightmares of the bandits returning and 'hurting her' again. She started to whimper which of course didn't go unnoticed by Luke who crouched down in front of the child. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asked as he placed a hand on her face to remove a stray tear.

She looked at him with her tear-filled brown eyes and said, "Luke, I…"

"Listen, if it's about Sarah you should know that she is in a better place now." Luke said comfortingly.

"No, Luke." Danielle whimpered. "This is… I…"

She continued to whimper a little more as Luke said, "Honey, whatever is wrong, it's obviously hurting you. You might feel better, if you tell me what's wrong."

Danielle huffed as she continued to whimper. "Luke, I was raped!" Danielle exclaimed.

Luke's eyes widened in horror and his jaw dropped. He knew something traumatizing happened to Danielle ever since he met her, but he had no idea something like that happened to her. "Oh my word…" Luke said. "Honey, I'm so sorry that happened to you. No wonder, you were so afraid of us."

Danielle stood by whimpering, but she soon felt something else, relief. Relief from holding a horrible secret about her for over a year. The same secret that destroyed her child-like innocence and forced her to fear most men. She suddenly felt someone hug her as she stopped crying. It was Luke, the first person that she had ever told about her secret. He rubbed her back soothingly as her breathing started to calm. Luke wasn't sure what to say at the moment but Danielle did. "Luke, thank you for not being like those men who…"

"Sh… I won't ever hurt you, Dani." Luke said. He separated from her and held her by her shoulders. He looked to her with concern and asked, "Are you okay? Hiding something like that must have hurt you a lot."

"It did." Danielle said. "I-I didn't know that it hurt me so much until I told you."

"Listen, if you need time to think things through, we'll go back to the group and I'll ask Christa to come with me." Luke said.

"Luke, I'm okay… I'm just glad that I got that off my chest." Danielle said.

"Did you ever tell anyone about that secret?" Luke asked.

"No." Danielle said as she shook her head. "You're the first person I've ever told. I was close to a lot of people in my old group, but I never told them about what happened."

"Really?" Luke asked. "Why do you trust me so much?"

"I don't know." Danielle said and she started to smile. "I guess I like you. You're like something that I never had before. You're like a daddy."

Luke's eyes widened and he stuttered, "I…I…You think….of me as a dad?"

Danielle nodded and she embraced the young man. He was surprised by the hug but nonetheless returned the hug, accepting his new role as Danielle's guardian. They separated from the hug and Luke said, "Come on Dani, we need to clear the bridge."

"Okay." Danielle said. She was now more responsive than earlier. She grabbed his hand and held it like a young child would do when they were with a parent.

They continued to walk to the bridge as Luke contemplated all that happened back there. It was hard enough taking care of a broken group who had lost some very important people, but now he had to take care of a broken ten year old girl on top of that. Things were definitely not going to be easy for him.

They approached the entrance of the bridge but Luke was too lost in thought to notice. Instead, Danielle squeezed his hand to which Luke looked down to Danielle with questioning hum. She then indicated to the entrance of the bridge where two walkers were guarding the entrance. He looked up and contemplating his options and said, "Hmm… can't shoot them. Too much noise. But they're only two."

"Let's take them." Danielle said.

"I like your style." Luke said. He then approached a boulder and crouched down with Danielle accompanying him. She released his hand and grabbed her survival knife as Luke said, "I'll take the big one and you can take shorty."

"Okay." Danielle said as she raised her knife ready to attack. Luke drew his machete and approached his walker in a crouched position. Danielle, on the other hand, approached her walker standing up right since her height wouldn't give away her position. She walked up to her targeted walker, but hesitated and looked back to Luke to see if he was ready. He replied with a nod, signaling that he was ready. Danielle nodded back and she looked to the walker. Danielle quickly stabbed the walker with a grunt as Luke sliced the taller walker.

"Whoa!" Luke exclaimed as he looked over to see if Danielle was alright. Danielle quickly retrieved the knife but felt queasy as the blade exited the skull of the walker. She shuddered as the legless walker fell to the ground. Luke walked over and slapped her on the back, saying, "Nice going."

Danielle yelped in reply and she gave a playful glare towards Luke as she placed her knife back in its sheath. "Ow." Danielle said coldly. Luke rubbed the back of head uncomfortably, figuring that he had hurt the young girl until Danielle smiled at him. He rolled his eyes upon finding out that Danielle was only joking with him.

"Come on." Luke said with a head gesture and the two moved forward, onto the bridge. This time, Danielle didn't grab Luke's hand and instead she readied herself for anymore walkers. Luke was also prepared with his machete in his hand. They looked over to see two walkers were on the bridge and were headed for them. However, the two soon realized that they were outflanked as another walker could be heard coming from behind. They turned around and spotted the creature heading for them from behind. "Shit." Luke cursed.

Luke rose the machete ready to attack the walker that was coming from the rear. He was about to strike when part of the bridge collapsed underneath his feet. He yelled out as the portion underneath him collapsed.

"Luke!" Danielle exclaimed. She ran towards the hole in the bridge to see that Luke was hanging on by a couple of metal poles, and his targeted walker was struggling to get to him but was impaled and wasn't going to be able to free itself. "Dani, I'm okay. I'm just stuck."

Danielle tried to reach for Luke but to no avail and said, "I can't reach."

"It's okay." Luke replied. "Dani, we'll figure something out." Luke then looked next Dani and saw that one of the previous walkers was getting dangerously close to her. "Watch out." Luke warned Danielle.

She looked up and saw the walker heading for her, arms stretched out to grab her. "Oh shit." Danielle muttered and she quickly grabbed her gun.

She had a perfect shot at the creature until Luke yelled, "No Dani, gun'll only attract more."

Danielle huffed and she quickly placed the gun back in its holster. She then grabbed the survival knife and slashed one of the walker's legs. She then proceeded to stab it on top of the skull. The walker slumped down dead from the final stab, but Danielle's victory was short lived. The other walker who must have been a woman charged towards Danielle. She quickly avoided the charge but didn't check where her footing was. Her bad footing placement made her fall from the bridge but by some stroke of pure luck, she was able to cling to one of the metal bars used to keep the bridge stable. She started to panic as she dangled from the fifty foot drop which would force her into the river that was cascading into a waterfall. This meant the current was very strong and would spell the end for anyone unfortunate enough to fall in.

Danielle screamed in horror and kicked furiously as she tried to find some form of stable ground for her feet. She was finally able to find it in the form of a metal bar. She then used her legs and arms to pull herself back onto the top of the bridge. She got to the bridge's deck to see the walker that almost pushed her off the bridge. Danielle quickly weaved from the walker's grasp and grabbed onto one of the angled bars. She grunted as she tried to pull herself up. She then leapt and grabbed onto a vertical bar. The walker was still trying to get her without any luck as it stayed within the gaps of the angled bars. Finally, Danielle saw an opening within the support which she could use. She leapt for another angled bar and used it to get to the opening which led to the bridge's deck.

Danielle huffed exhausted by having to leap and hold onto the bars. However, she was forced to focus on the walker again as it approached her with a satisfied growl now that it has found another meal. Danielle noticed a rebar close by and went to grab it. She swung back and slammed the walker on the side of the skull. It growled as it hit the ground, however it was still alive. Danielle approached it as her energy started to drain. She hit the walker with the rebar grunting in exhaustion. Its dark red blood splattered against her face and yellow hooded sweater as Danielle continued to hit the creature until there was no movement in the dead creatures. Danielle huffed heavily as she hit the creature for the last time, being truly exhausted. "Dani, are you alright?" Luke asked from the hole in the bridge. "I could really use your help right now."

Danielle slowly and shakily walked over to Luke, threatening to fall as her body used too much of her energy in the last confrontation. She used the rebar and smashed the impaled walker's skull and huffed to Luke, "Here."

Luke took the rebar but noticed that Danielle wasn't in good condition. She was slumped on the edge of the hole that Luke was in with her eyes closed. She was also wheezing instead of huffing. "Dani, are you alright?"

"…No…not really." Danielle wheezed she then started to crawl away from the hole and turned herself onto her back. She could hear Luke using the rebar and placing it on the two parallel poles that had kept him from falling into the river below. The rebar snapped in half after a couple of groans but it helped Luke get back onto the deck.

He quickly grabbed his machete and sheathed it. He then approached Danielle and placed a hand on her head. "You're a bit warm. Did you get bit?" Luke asked.

Danielle opened her brown eyes and shook her head. "No…I just….I think Nick was right." Danielle said. "This may have…been too much for me."

"Well it didn't really help when I fell through the bridge." Luke said. "Neither of us could have predicted that." Danielle nodded and Luke said, "Come on, get up. If you stand upright, you'll get more air in you."

He even tried to push her up but she stopped him, "Luke, no! Stop, stop!" Danielle huffed. "I just need a minute, to think." Luke nodded and lowered the girl gently on her back. After a couple of minutes of thinking, she looked up to Luke with pleading eyes. She has come to trust Luke with her life and has even called him her guardian. Additionally, she was rather small; many scavengers would mistake her for an eight year old instead of a ten year old. However, what she was about to ask Luke to do would be a very strange request. "Carry me." Danielle finally said.

"What?" Luke asked.

Danielle continued to look at him with pleading eyes and said it again. "Carry me, please." Danielle pleaded. "I'm completely drained and I'm starting to get really dizzy. I don't think I could walk for very long even if I tried."

Luke shrugged and he went ahead and picked the young girl up. He proceeded to carry her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He continued to carry her across the bridge. "Thanks Luke." Danielle said.

"You're welcome, baby girl." Luke said as he rocked her slightly. "Go ahead and rest up for now. If we get anymore company though, I'll have to put you down on the ground." Danielle didn't reply and instead she felt more like deadweight. Luke shook her, only to discover that she had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: So the secret is out. And keep in mind that Danielle is a creation of Telltale Games, not me. Rant to them.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Someone very important appears in this chapter and it's not just Kenny.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Luke continued to walk across the bridge with a fatigued Danielle sleeping in his arms. He looked down sadly at the sleeping child mentally kicking himself for asking her to come. It wasn't like he knew that the bridge was going to collapse like it did, but that thought did little to ease his mind. Now, Danielle was suffering from fatigue and the best medical person that they had on hand was Christa who was studying to become a nurse before all of this.

Suddenly, Luke noticed a figure in the distance and stopped. He looked on to the figure and noticed that he was carrying a hunting rifle. Luke quickly placed his right hand from hugging Danielle around her back to hovering over his handgun, all the while shifting Danielle to his hip.

The man was finally in ear-shot from Luke. "Well who are you?" The man inquired as Luke kept his hand above his handgun.

"Well, who's asking?" Luke inquired.

"I am." The man replied. The man appeared to be squinting his eyes and asked, "Is your little girl alright?"

Luke looked down to Danielle to see that she had woken up and was looking at him somewhat tiredly. "No, not really!" Luke shouted back.

The man sensing that the two weren't a danger to him approached them. He finally got close to the two as Luke relaxed and placed his right hand down to his side. "Well what's wrong with her? She's not bit, is she?"

"No, she's fatigued." Luke explained. "The bridge fell apart back there and I fell through which forced her to fight off two lurkers. One made her lose her balance and almost forced her to go into the waters below. Thankfully, she must have grabbed onto something and she was able to get back onto the bridge."

The man chuckled and said, "You're a little badass then, huh?" Danielle smiled momentarily to the man but this was followed by her eyes drooping and smile disappearing.

"She used up a lot of her energy which has made her fatigued." Luke continued as he rocked her in his arms.

"Don't worry, I got some canned food in that station back there." The man explained.

"That's, uh, awful nice of you. What's the catch?" Luke asked as he eyed the man suspiciously.

"No catch. I got plenty." The man replied.

"Well alright then, thank you." Luke replied.

"Hey no problem. It's nice to run into friendly faces out here." The man said. "Like I said I got food and supplies back in the station and if you want…" The man trailed off as he squinted his eyes towards the other end of the bridge. His eyes widened and he asked, "What the f***, man?"

Luke turned around and saw Nick running towards them with his hunting rifle in hand. "What in the world is he doing?" Luke asked. Nick then aimed his rifle towards the unknown man. In turn, the unknown man raised his rifle. "No, no, no, no! He's wi- He's with us!" Luke tried to reason. He quickly placed Danielle on the ground to which she easily lost her balance and fell to her knees. Luke sent an apologetic stare towards her and then turned to Nick. He waved his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Nick, no!"

"Put it down!" The man exclaimed.

Danielle couldn't add any input and all she could do was watch. Suddenly, Luke grabbed Danielle and covered her with his own body. A gunshot rang out and the two looked up and saw the man was shot in the throat. He clutched his throat as blood spewed out but then tripped over the bridge into the water below.

Luke got up and seethed as he approached Nick, forgetting that Danielle was suffering from fatigue. Still, she got off of the ground and shakily walked towards the men. Each step that she took made her more and more dizzy "Did I hit him? Where is he?" Nick asked.

"I told you not to shoot." Luke said to Nick.

"What? Who was that guy?" Nick asked.

"He was going to help us." Danielle said, however her speech was slurred and it was more of a mumble.

"What in the f*** is wrong with her!" Nick exclaimed as he raised his hunting rifle towards her. He was afraid that she was bit by a lurker for sure this time. At this, Danielle collapsed unable to take any more of the dizziness.

"Stop Nick!" Luke exclaimed as he pushed the rifle's barrel away from Danielle. "She's sufferin from fatigue. And I think you've done enough for one day."

"How was I supposed to know that guy wasn't going to blow your heads off?" Nick asked. "You gave me a clear shot."

"That shot rang out for miles!" Luke snapped. He then waved his hand toward the rest of the group to continue on. "We need to get off this bridge. Let's go." He then went up to Danielle and scooped her up in his arms. "Sorry, baby girl." Luke said as he carried her again. She relaxed in his arms and even laid her head on his shoulder. His strong arms made her feel more secure than she has felt in two years. Nick followed Luke with a glare shot towards him.

They finally reached the other side of the bridge with Nick and Luke glaring at each other until the rest of the group came. Rebecca physically struggled to reach a nearby log and asked, "Who the f***… was that back there?"

"I don't know." Luke replied.

"Is Dani alright?" Christa asked as she eyed the small ten year old in Luke's arms. "Why isn't she walking?"

"She's fatigued." Luke said.

"She's what?" Christa hissed. She crossed her arms over her chest and shot Luke a glare. "I told you to take it easy with her back there."

"I tried." Luke explained. "I fell through the bridge and that left Danielle out on a limb. That was my bad."

Clementine shot a sympathetic glance to Danielle as Christa started to relax. She looked to Luke and said, "I'm sorry. I know that you did your best back there. You always do." Luke nodded sadly, as he felt that his best failed him and Danielle. Christa approached him and said, "Let me see Dani." Luke nodded and allowed Christa to take the exhausted ten year old from his grasp. Christa then walked over and took a seat next Rebecca while placing Danielle on her lap. Danielle laid her head on Christa's chest as she soothed the child by rubbing her back.

The argument continued as Christa and Rebecca watched on from the log. "It looked like that guy had a gun on you, Luke." Alvin said.

"That asshole drew on me!" Nick exclaimed. "He was about to shoot."

"Oh was he?" Luke inquired.

"I'm telling you man, he drew first!" Nick snapped.

"Because that's not what it looked like to me." Luke said

"Everyone calm down." Clementine said.

Alvin then looked over to Danielle who seemed to be extremely distant. "Hey Dani." Alvin said to get her attention. "Dani, hey, we need to ask you something important." However Alvin's attempt to talk to the girl were in vain as she didn't stir a bit. Christa looked Alvin and shrugged with a worried face.

"F*** you Luke! You have been on my ass all week!" Nick complained.

"And why do you think that is, Nick?" Luke inquired. "Heck you know what? That man was going to help us, and then you showed up and shot him."

Nick glared at Luke and said, "I know what I saw!"

"Either way, you could have hit one of us!" Luke said.

"Yeah, well I didn't." Nick snarled.

"Look Nick, I know Pete was close to you, but you can-" Luke began to say until Nick glared at him and exclaimed, "Don't f****** talk about him, ever!" The argument ceased at that moment, leaving the atmosphere within the group tense and thick.

"Luke, do you think he was with Carver?" Christa asked from her seat at the log. By this point, Danielle had fallen asleep and was resting her head peacefully on Christa's chest.

Luke looked back to Christa and said, "I don't know. I… No, I don't think so. He fell off the bridge so it doesn't matter."

"He fell off the damn bridge?" Alvin asked.

"It's probably best if we stay here for a few minutes." Christa said as she continued to rub Danielle's back.

"Yeah, I can't move on, yet. I just need a minute." Rebecca huffed.

"You take as long as you need." Christa said. "Besides, Dani's not looking good either." Rebecca nodded and looked down sadly. "What's wrong?" Christa asked.

"I…I feel so guilty for giving her so much shit. I mean I gave you and Clem shit, but I gave her more and I even threatened to hurt her if she ever returned to the cabin." Rebecca stated sadly.

"You know that she doesn't hold a grudge against you." Christa said.

"But she isn't so trusting of me either." Rebecca said.

"You're both doing better than at the beginning of this journey. All you can do is rebuild that trust with her and she is more than cooperative with that." Christa encouraged. Rebecca smiled to Christa's encouragement and they looked back to Luke to see him looking sadly to Danielle.

"Luke, I need a word with you, alone." Alvin said. Luke nodded and the two adults walked over to some nearby brush away from the rest of the group. Nick shot a glare at both men before going to a log to sit down by himself.

Clementine walked over to her guardian and looked sympathetically to Danielle and then to Christa. "Is she going to be okay?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah, she just needs time to recover." Christa replied. She then eyed the station and then back to Clementine. "Clementine, sweetie, can you go in there and see if there is any food or water? I think Dani will get better faster if her body has something to work with."

"Yeah, I'm on it." Clementine replied and started to walk towards the station.

"Thanks sweetie and be careful." Christa said to Clementine. Clementine smiled back with a nod and she entered the station.

Inside, there was a cot with some empty cans near it, a radio that sat on an end table, and a trunk at the foot of the bed. Clementine went up to the radio and tried to get a signal. She sighed sadly upon hearing nothing and said, "Battery's dead."

Clementine continued to look around the room trying to find something useful, but then her eyes rested on something. She approached the object which was a hunting knife that was engraved with the initials: MW. Clementine picked it up and checked the blade and swung it around to check the weight of the blade. "Feels pretty good." Clementine stated.

Clementine then eyed the truck on the ground and went to the object. "There has to be food in here." Clementine stated and she placed the blade in between the locking mechanism and the trunk and applied pressure. The metal groaned until there was a satisfying crunch sound that came from the lock being destroyed. Clementine retracted the blade and opened the chest to see two large cans of peaches and a stack of books. She smiled as she grabbed one of the peaches. Suddenly, she could hear the door open and looked over to see that Alvin has entered the station house.

He looked over the station house interior and was left with a look of sympathy. "Man and I thought we had it bad. Look at this dump." Alvin said. He then approached Clementine and looked inside the trunk. "Huh?" Alvin said. "I guess that man did have food after all." Alvin then grabbed one of the cans and continued, "Man, screw Nick. Nick's lost a lot of his people but that doesn't mean he can just go around shooting up strangers."

"He was trying to help us." Clementine said.

"Yeah, and someone died. I ain't no judge but that's straight up murder in my books. I mean did you ever know anyone who would do that." Alvin replied.

Clementine contemplated for a couple of seconds and said, "Lots of people. It happens all the time now."

"It's f******* crazy." Alvin said. "Pardon my French." Alvin then looked to the can of peaches and smiled and said, "That's funny she looks just like you." Alvin then showed the can to Clementine so there could be a comparison. "Hey, Clem, there's not a lot of food here and Rebecca well… she's eaten for two now. You think you can just keep this between us? I hate to even say it but… and I would never go against the group."

"Alvin, I do really care about the baby and Rebecca, but the group really should decide, especially with Dani in such bad shape." Clementine said.

"I understand, Clementine." Alvin said somewhat sadly but then he grinned, "I am thankful that you do care about Bec and the baby, especially when she snapped at you and Christa."

"That's in the past, Alvin." Clementine said. "Besides Luke will make sure that Rebecca gets something to eat."

Alvin smiled appreciatively to Clementine and went to the window and looked out to Nick. "It's a shame. Nick was a good guy; he still is a good guy. He's just losing it. God knows we aren't perfect… hell I'm happy that you, Christa, and Dani are with us. You helped us through a very rough time back there."

Clementine smiled to the man in response. Alvin was about to leave when he looked out the window to check on Rebecca but received a shock when he saw several walkers heading towards the group. "What the hell is that?" Alvin asked. Clementine walked over to the window to see what Alvin was looking at.

"Walkers." Clementine stated horrified to see the herd heading for the group.

"Come on. We got to get everyone out of here." Alvin said and he opened the door. "We have a problem here." Alvin announced and he looked over to the group. However, they noticed the small herd as well and were walking over to the station house ready to move.

"Yeah. We saw it." Luke said as he was once again the person to carry Danielle. He then turned to the group and said, "Alright, we're moving up." Everyone nodded in agreement and they all started up the mountain at a decent pace to avoid the oncoming herd.

* * *

><p>Danielle had finally regained much of her energy and wasn't as fatigued as she was that afternoon. She had managed to overcome her fatigue by eating an ample amount of food that was found in the station house and sleeping it off. The group was now approaching the ski lodge.<p>

The sky had grown gray with the oncoming storm and the lateness of the day as the cabin survivors climbed the hill to the top. Rebecca huffed as she struggled to climb the mountain to its summit. Meanwhile, Christa and Nick looked across the walkway of the lodge awaiting any form of trouble whether it would be walkers or human beings. "Well? What are we waiting for?" Rebecca asked as she approached the two.

"We have to be careful." Christa said.

"Careful? We've been on the road for 5 days." Rebecca responded. "My back is done being careful."

Alvin walked down the walkway examining the windows and said, "It doesn't look like anybody is home." He looked at one of the fortified windows and pulled on it. "No good." Alvin said. "Nailed down tight." Alvin then got up and walked towards the entrance. "I'll check around front."

"I'll go with you." Nick said as he followed his ally.

The other members of the group stayed behind. Rebecca slumped on one of the outside benches and huffed. She was exhausted by the climb up to the mountain. Christa went over to check on her. Meanwhile, Clementine approached Danielle and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay now." Danielle said. "Thanks for going into that station house and getting that food for me."

"You're welcome." Clementine said. "I know that you would do the same for me." Danielle smiled to the older girl, who stood rather tall for her age. She reminded Danielle of Sarah as Danielle remembered Sarah for her kindness and innocence just like Clementine, except Clementine can handle herself in this world, where Sarah would have to constantly rely on someone.

What followed was a very comfortable silence between the two girls. However, the silence between the two was broken when Luke walked over and said, "Well it'd be good to know if anybody is back there following us." Luke said. "Could probably get a better view from up top." Luke then looked to Danielle and said, "You'd have an easier time getting up there than the rest of us. Feel like taking a look? It would be like climbing up a treehouse, just a very tall treehouse."

Danielle sighed and nodded. She went up to the lift and stared up to the top. Danielle wasn't overly afraid of heights but she was overly enthused either. "Don't worry. I'll catch if you fall." Luke said.

However before Danielle could reach for one of the rums Clementine stopped her and said, "I'll do it."

"You don't have to." Danielle said.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Clementine replied. "You were fatigued a couple of hours ago."

"She's right, Dani." Christa said as she approached the three. "Let Clementine do it. You might still have some dizziness and it'll only get worse if you climb up that lift." Christa then focused on Clementine and said, "Clementine, sweetie, be careful."

Clementine nodded and she started to climb up the lift. Luke looked to Christa and asked, "You got it from here? I should check to see what's going on with Alvin and Nick."

Christa nodded and she stayed below Clementine ready to catch her if need be. After climbing up the lift half way, Clementine slipped on one of the rums and gasped. She quickly grabbed onto the ladder as Christa asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Clementine replied and she continued up the lift.

Christa smiled when she reached the top and said, "That's my girl."

"Way to go, Clem!" Danielle exclaimed so the slightly older girl could hear her.

Clementine smiled back to the two from the top and headed over to the other side of the platform. A crow flew off startled by her presence as she reached the other side that looked out to the landscape which was covered in forest. Clementine pulled out her binoculars and viewed the surrounding landscape until she saw the bridge.

"Do you see anything?" Christa asked from the bottom of the lift.

Clementine looked at the bridge with an intrigued look, noticing flashlights that were shining in an unorganized pattern. "Yeah, I think I see lights."

Suddenly Danielle and Christa could hear inaudible yelling that came from the walkway. Christa looked over to see her group arguing with another group. "Clementine, climb down. We've got a situation." Christa said to the girl. Clementine obliged and place the binoculars in her backpack. She then started to descend as Christa looked to Danielle and said, "Dani, go check out what's going on over there, but don't put yourself in danger, okay? I got to stay here and make sure Clem gets down safely."

"Okay." Danielle said as the argument on the walkway intensified. She ran over to the group to see Nick holding up his assault rifle towards the group, however due to her short height, she couldn't make out two of the members of the new group.

"Listen, everyone. Just stay calm." Luke tried to reason with the members of the new group.

"Who are you? Are you trying to rob us?" An Indian-American woman asked.

"Excuse me, honey, but do I look like a freaking thief?" Rebecca snapped. Meanwhile, Danielle kept advancing further towards the center of the commotion as her group and this new group continued to argue.

"Everyone just stay calm." A plump man in a red sweater said.

"Hey man, you calm down." Alvin shot back.

"Just tell us who you are." A young girl's voice sounded. Danielle perked up when she heard the voice. She knew that voice!

"We're not here to rob anyone. Put the gun down man." Alvin pleaded.

"F*** that." An unknown man said. Danielle was now closer to the center and could make out the unknown man as an older man with graying hair

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Luke exclaimed as he rose his arms in surrender. He then spotted Danielle and placed his arm on her shoulder. The older man looked to her with a glare and went back to eying everyone else, however he was accompanied by a teenage girl with a black t-shirt under a black button-up shirt, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a black pair of sneakers, a fake tooth necklace, and a blue bandana that covered her right eye. The girl looked wide eyed to Danielle and the younger girl mirrored the teenager's expression.

"Please just do as he says." The Indian-American woman begged. However, neither group was backing down.

"Anne!" Danielle exclaimed and she ran up to the older girl.

"Dani!" Anne exclaimed and she hugged the younger girl. Anne of course had to slouch since Danielle was short.

The two enjoyed each other's friendly embrace as Luke asked, "Wait you know these people?"

Danielle separated from Anne and said, "No, I only know Anne."

"Dani, you don't know how wonderful it is to see you again. It's…It's just amazing." Anne said. She scanned the group looking around for the other members. "Wait, where's Derek?" Anne asked. Danielle shook her head and Anne continued to ask, "Todd? DJ? Jace? Roy?"

"They're all gone." Danielle said.

"My gosh. What the heck happened?" Anne asked.

"We just kept losing people until it was just me and DJ left." Danielle said. Anne shook her head in disgust. She never did like DJ, since DJ would be mean to her almost all the time. "She died from childbirth; the baby was a stillborn. After I put them both down, I was on my own for a while until these people found me."

"I'm sorry Dani." Anne said sadly. "I tried to find you guys again but… things just didn't work out."

"Kenny!" The two girls heard Clementine exclaimed.

Clementine…?" Kenny asked as he looked wide eyed to the girl.

Clementine's eyes softened and she ran to Kenny hugging the man as he hugged her back. They released each other from the embrace and Kenny squatted down to look at her at eye level. He placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as Christa approached them, "Hey, old man. I didn't think I would see you again." Christa said as she approached Kenny.

Kenny got up and hugged Christa. They separated and Kenny looked around. "Where's Omid?" Kenny asked.

Christa and Clementine looked down at the mention of the deceased man that meant so much to both of them. "Aw, Christa, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay Kenny." Christa replied. "You couldn't have known."

"We can talk inside." Kenny told the group in a friendly tone of voice.

"Great, I just started dinner." The plump man said.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Luke asked.

"It's going to storm soon." The plump man said. "Please come in."

The plump man in the red sweater led the way as Kenny, Clementine, and Christa walked together; they were followed by Anne and Danielle who were glad to see each other again. The plump man opened the door for the five as they entered. Clementine and Danielle looked around the ski lodge with wonder and amazement. It had electricity as shown by the decorations on the Christmas tree and lights on the columns. "You have electricity?" Christa asked.

"Yeah, comes from a wind turbine out front." Kenny explained

The plump man joined alongside the five and explained, "Kenny, Anne, and Sarita have been staying with us for several weeks. Used to be a ski lodge obviously, so there is plenty of food." He continued as he walked up the stairs, "And as Kenny mentioned, we still get power from that wind turbine out front. We tend to keep the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention."

Kenny turned around to his four fellow survivors and began mock the man with a nagging hand gesture as the man continued, "But after we found this stuff in storage, we couldn't resist making an exception." Clementine and Danielle giggled at Kenny's antics. Meanwhile, Anne and Christa rolled her eyes at Kenny with a smirk on their features. The plump man turned around and asked, "Is something funny?"

"Oh nothing Walt." Kenny replied and walked up the stairs to introduce his friend to Clementine, Danielle, and Christa. "Walter here is one smart son of a bitch. He also makes a good can of beans." Kenny finished as he patted Walter on the back.

"Well why don't you all catch up while I get dinner started?" Walter suggested. Suddenly the cabin members entered the ski lodge with Sarita walking up the stairs to join Kenny. They all shared Clementine's and Danielle's wonder and amazement to see the place had electricity. Walter interrupted their thoughts as he said, "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there." He then gestured to the bench near the door. The group looked over but no one made a move to place their weapons or equipment on the bench.

"The hell we will." Rebecca shot back.

"Yeah, I'm holding onto my rifle, thanks." Nick said.

"You are our guests here, there's no need to worry." Walter assured them.

"Then tell him to put his weapon down." Nick said as he gestured to Kenny.

"Very well. Kenny?" Walter said as he gestured for the man to place his weapon on the bench.

Kenny turned to Clementine and asked, "Do you trust these people Clem? Because if you say they're good then I'm putting my trust in your hands."

"Yeah, they're good." Clementine said.

"We've been with them for almost a week. They're good people, Kenny." Christa added.

Kenny smiled and said, "Well alright then." He then descended from the stairs and placed his hunting rifle on the bench. Luke followed him placing his machete on the bench. The two were followed by everyone else who placed their weapons and equipment on or underneath the bench.

Sarita smiled and said, "Good. Will you all please follow me? I'll show you where you can sleep." From there she gave a tour to Nick, Luke, Alvin, and Rebecca. Walter went back to the kitchen and tried to get something made for the new additions as Kenny, Christa, and Clementine headed for the living room where a nice, warm fire was. Meanwhile, Danielle and Anne went upstairs to have their own conversation.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Yeah, unlike Something to Fight For, I actually have a story to work with this time. In fact, that's why I took it down. It had nothing to do with reviews or anything like that. I just couldn't write a half-way decent plot that kept a tense atmosphere. Anyway, here is a late disclaimer:**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**

Kenny sat down with Christa and Clementine sitting across from him. He smiled happily to see them both still alive and okay, but saddened by the fact that Omid didn't make it. Clementine reflected his saddened expression as she recalled the last time that she saw Kenny. "Still wearing this dirty old thing." Kenny remarked as he tapped the brim of her hat. "You know, I half expected Lee to walk up next to you." Clementine flinched sadly at the mention of her deceased guardian's name as Kenny continued, not noticing that he had hit a sore spot for Clementine. "You two were like two peas in a pod."

His eyes widened when he looked back to her and he said, "Ah, shit. I didn't mean… it's just hard to not think about him."

"He saved me." Clementine said somewhat sadly.

"I knew it." Kenny said proudly. "I knew he would. That guy had a fire in him, sure as shit." Kenny then looked down sadly remembering everything Lee did for him as a friend. "Hell… Lee and I might not have gotten along, but he… he helped me with my son… when I couldn't." Kenny brightened up as he remembered how Lee always cared for Katjaa and Duck. "I'll never forget that." He frowned again and said, "All I seem to remember doing was giving him shit, but he was just trying to keep the group together. I'll never forgive myself for giving him so much shit."

"We've both done things that we regret." Christa said sadly.

Kenny looked to her with a confused expression and said, "You always seemed straight with Lee. What did you do that you regret?"

"It wasn't towards Lee." Christa said. "It was towards Clementine." Both looked to her sympathetically as she continued, "After Omid died, I blamed Clementine for the longest time for what happened to him. I will never forgive myself for doing that. Clementine needed me at that time more than ever and I left her out on a limb."

Clementine looked sadly to Christa and said, "Christa…"

Christa ignored her as Kenny spoke up, "Christa take it from an old fool's mouth." Christa looked up to Kenny who wore a saddened look on his face. "At least you had the chance to make up for your mistakes, I'll never have the chance to apologize to Lee." Kenny said as he looked down sadly.

Christa placed a reassuring hand on his and waited for him to look up at her. "Lee said that he missed you after he thought that you were dead."

"Really?" Kenny asked surprised and happy by the new information.

"He cared about you Kenny, just like he cared about everyone else." Clementine added.

Kenny smiled and said, "I reckon you both want to know what happened and how I got here." They both nodded and waited for Kenny's story as he hummed in thought. "For some reason, I went back to try and save that shit bird, Ben. Then it turned into a damn cluster." Kenny looked off toward the fire distantly by the memory of struggling through several walkers and then turned back to Clementine and Christa, "Couldn't help the kid, but I made it out. Long story short, I got lucky, real lucky. Kept clawing my way out of Savannah until I got cornered by a pack of walkers. I was sure that my luck had finally worn out, when out of nowhere, little Anne came in and shot up all of the walkers. Without her, I would have died in Savannah. After we got out of that deathtrap city, I found a bar and…" Kenny then spaced out. He obviously went through some nightmare after Savannah, and he tried to fix the problem with alcohol. "Anne had to knock some common sense into me and well… I'd say that would have been the second time she saved me. After that, I promised myself that I would look after her. Then we found Sarita, thank goodness! Gosh, it's great to have you back!" Kenny exclaimed.

The said woman approached the three and asked, "You three catching up?"

"Clem, Christa, this is my girl, Sarita. Ain't she beautiful?" Kenny asked.

Sarita rolled her eyes at the antics of her boyfriend and said, "It's nice to meet you both."

"It's good to meet you too." Christa replied.

Walter then walked back into the living room after letting the pot boil in the makeshift kitchen. Kenny noticed him coming in and asked, "Hey Walt, where's Matthew? He still out there rootin around?"

"Of course he is." Walter replied. "Well I'll start dinner." Walter said and continued his walk to the makeshift kitchen.

Sarita then walked over to Clementine and asked, "Clementine, do you think you could help me with the decorations."

Clementine smiled in delight as she had fond memories of helping her mom place decoration on the Christmas tree. "Of course!" Clementine exclaimed happily. With that the two went to the tree and started to decorate it.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Luke asked as he and Nick walked up to Kenny.

"Yeah, actually, there's still a few supplies outside. We need to bring them in before the storm hits." Kenny replied. "Mind giving me a hand with that?"

"Sure." Luke said and he and Nick headed for the door with Kenny.

Christa smiled as she watched Clementine helping decorate the tree with Sarita.

* * *

><p>Danielle and Anne sat across from one another looking at each other. It had been too long for the both of them. They haven't seen one another for at least a year.<p>

"So, how do you know these people, Dani?" Anne asked.

"They saved me. The leader, Luke, found me while I was suffering from mild starvation. From there, they took care of me and I befriended a girl named Sarah." Danielle explained.

"Wait a minute." Anne said as she tried to connect the pieces. "The girl you were with was Clementine."

"Yeah, Sarah didn't make it. The guys who is after us, Carver, came to the cabin while everyone was out looking for me and... he beat her nearly to death. By the time we got back, it was too late."

"F*****!" Anne hissed. "I'm going to kick his ass." Her eyes then grew sympathetic and said, "I'm sorry, Dani. I wish I could have found you sooner."

"What about you Anne?" Danielle asked. "How'd you end up with that Kenny guy?"

"Well, after I got separated from the rest of you guys, I went to the nearest city, which was Savannah. And that's when I found Kenny. He was cornered by a herd on the outskirts of Savannah. After I saved his ass, he and I stayed together, but he was completely depressed and went to a nearby bar." Anne said. She then scoffed and said, "I had no idea how much alcohol one man can drink. I think he spent three days just getting wasted. Finally I got sick of it and started smacking him around a bit, you know to get some common sense back in his head."

Danielle chuckled at the mention of Kenny getting a smack down by Anne and said, "Anyway, I'm glad to see you again."

"Me too, Dani." Anne replied with a grin. "Now, let's go and do what we do best." Anne said as she got up from the bed and headed for the stairs.

"Which would be?" Danielle asked from the bed.

Anne turned around with a smirk and said, "Cause mayhem and destruction, as always." Anne joked.

"Right, so you want to destroy something or ruin someone's day?" Danielle asked playing along with the joke.

"Let's do both. Multitasking is more fun." Anne said. "How about we go ruin Walter's day and then destroy his work."

"Deal." Danielle chuckled and she jumped off the bed to join her friend. They descended down the stair and walked up to Walter who was cooking something that was unfamiliar to Danielle but it smelled delicious.

Walter looked up to see the two children approaching him and he asked, "Hello Danielle, settling in well enough?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright." Danielle replied.

"Good." Walter said. He then added a pinch of salt to the concoction as he looked up and spotted Anne with a playful smirk. "Hello Anne, come to ruin my day or destroy my work?" Walter asked.

"Since I got my friend with me today, I was thinking of doing both." Anne said with a smirk.

"Oh lovely." Walter said sarcastically. Both girls couldn't help but giggle as the man continued, "Anyway, I'm afraid that the main course is already done. So there isn't much you can do. However, I could use someone to taste test it." Walter turned to Danielle and asked, "Mind tasting the first bowl, madam?"

Danielle looked into the mixing bowl and looked to it weirdly. It didn't look as good as it smelled. "What is it?" Danielle asked.

"Le Walter surprise. An autumnal legume salad with a peach roux." Walter replied.

"Wait, what?" Danielle asked.

"In other words, it's peaches and beans. It's all we have." Anne said.

Walter then looked to the can and said, "Huh, striking resemblance." He then showed the can to Anne and Danielle and gestured over to Clementine.

"Huh? Yeah, that's quite a match." Anne said.

Walter laid the can back down, but Danielle looked questioningly at it as Walter said, "Anyway, I can take it from here." Walter then lift the large mixing pot and left the makeshift kitchen.

Anne looked back over to Danielle who was still staring at the can peaches. "Dani, you alright?" Anne asked.

"I… yeah… I just- I can't help but think that I've seen that can before. I remember seeing it recently, but I can't remember where." Danielle said as she pondered.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Anne said. "I imagine that we're not the only place that has it." Anne then grabbed Danielle's hand and started to tug on her lightly. "Come on. I bet Clementine and Sarita are going to need our help with the tree."

Danielle smiled and said, "Yeah." With that the two friends walked over and hung ornaments and decorations on the tree.

* * *

><p>After several minutes of decorating, Sarita walked back and inspected their work. "Perfect." Sarita commented. "Now all we need is the topper."<p>

"My mom and I would always put an angel on top of our tree." Danielle said.

"You know? My family and I never really celebrated Christmas, but we still liked the decorations." Sarita said.

Anne looked to Clementine and said, "Clem, do you think you could grab a topper? It'll be in a box at the top of the stairs."

"Yeah, I'm on it." Clementine replied and she went up the steps. As Clementine walked up the steps, Luke and Nick returned from outside. Nick walked off to see if Kenny needed anything else done. However, Luke had other plans and he walked towards Danielle.

Danielle picked up on the sound of his footsteps and turned to see Luke in front of her with a smirk, which was followed by him putting a supportive hand on her shoulder, "How are we doing, Dani? Are you still dizzy?"

"I'm good." Danielle said. "And thanks for helping me back there on the bridge. I know it was a weird request, but… I'm glad that you're looking out for me."

"Anytime, baby girl." Luke said with a smile and he proceeded to stand up. He left and went to talk to Nick as Clementine placed the topper on the tree.

"It looks beautiful." Sarita said.

"It looks amazing, Clem." Anne added.

Clementine descended from the stairs as Sarita looked over to Danielle. "You know now that your friends are here, this place is starting to feel like a real home." Sarita said. "Matthew and Walter are amazing people. Honestly, it's dangerous to be this kind but they can't help it."

"I'm glad they're so kind, otherwise we would still be on the road." Anne remarked.

"That's true." Sarita replied. She then looked to Clementine and said, "Wait until you meet Matthew. He's a real character."

"When is Matthew coming back?" Danielle asked.

He should be coming back soon." Sarita replied. She then looked over to Kenny who was helping get supplies into the ski lodge before the storm hits and looked to Clementine. "Clem, I wanted to ask you… Does Kenny seem different to you? I don't know him before and well… I'm curious." Sarita explained.

"Yeah, I don't know much about him either." Anne admitted.

"He's regretful for what happened between him and my guardian." Clementine replied somewhat sadly.

"Him and Christa?" Anne asked. "They seem to be getting along alright."

"No, I… Christa wasn't my first guardian." Clementine replied sadly. "When everything happened, this man found me and took care of me. We met up with other survivors, one of them being Kenny and we all tried to make it, but… everything fell apart."

"Aw, sweetie." Sarita said sympathetically. Danielle and Anne both looked to Clementine equally being sympathetic.

The moment was interrupted when Walter announced, "Well everyone dinner is served. Come on, let's eat."

The group looked over to see bowls set up at each table. The sweet aroma from earlier was very much present and it made all of the former cabin survivors drool. Luke, Nick, Alvin, and Rebecca walked over to the left table as Sarita, Walter and Anne sat at the right table. Anne smiled toward Danielle and made a gesture to come sit with her as Luke shouted, "Hey Dani, come on over and sit with us." Anne looked to Luke and then back to Danielle with pleading eyes.

Danielle's attention soon turned to Christa and Kenny as they started to talk. "I hope you don't mind if I sit with Luke and that new group. We need to discuss our current situation."

Kenny nodded with an understanding smile and said, "I don't mind at all. I heard about y'all's situation."

"Thanks." Christa replied. She looked down to Clementine and said, "Come on, sweetie. We need to figure out a plan with Luke and them."

"Okay." Clementine said. She and Christa then went to the table to which Luke happily greeted them. However to Luke's sadness, Danielle walked over to the right table to join Anne.

**Conversation with Luke's Group**

Luke looked down sadly as Danielle made her choice to sit with Kenny and his group. Christa noticed Luke's reaction and said, "Don't worry, Luke. She's just visiting an old friend."

"Yeah, man." Nick said. "I've never seen you like this before. Why do you care so much about her, anyway?"

Luke looked up with a confused expression until he realized that he hadn't told his group that he was now Danielle's guardian. "Guys." Luke said. Everyone looked to him and he continued. "There's something that I haven't told y'all yet.

"Well, what is it?" Christa asked.

"On the way to the bridge, Dani asked me to be her guardian. And I said yes." Luke said with a big smile.

"You said what?" Nick inquired with a glare.

"Hush." Rebecca said as she scowled at Nick. She turned to Luke with a warm smile and said, "Luke congratulations. I bet it feels wonderful to be guardian."

"It is." Christa said as she smiled down to Clementine. "I know for a fact, that it's been one of the best decisions of my life." Clementine in turn hugged Christa affectionately to which Christa returned the hug.

However, Nick was less than enthused about Luke's new status. "I don't know what you were thinking?" Everyone turned to Nick with a scowl wondering why he was being so hostile. "You know that she still doesn't forgive me for what happened at the cabin."

"Well Nick, it's going to take a while until she can forgive you." Alvin said. "You definitely made her feel unwelcomed and you nearly shot her."

"You nearly shot her?" Christa inquired with horror written on her features

"Whatever." Nick snapped and went back to eating, ignoring the glares.

Christa shook her head as she tried to move on to a new conversation. "Look guys, I really hate to say this, but we might have to move on. I think Carver and his men are tracking us."

"Tracking? Who do you think they are, ninjas?" Alvin inquired as he panicked from the thought of Carver's men hunting them down.

"There's no way they're still tracking us." Nick added.

"Bec needs a rest. She can't go through another day out there." Alvin said.

"And you think Clem and Dani can?" Christa said. "Like I said, I don't like that we have to leave, but if we don't then we're going to bring Kenny and his group into this."

"If they stay here, they're going to get wrapped up in this anyway." Rebecca said.

"Why don't we just ask them to come with us?" Clementine asked.

"Are f****** insane? They look like assholes." Nick snapped. "I ain't agreeing to that shit."

"Nick, they're good people. Dani trusts them. One of them is an old friend to Christa and Clementine." Luke said trying to reason with his friend but as always he remained as stubborn as a mule.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we should ask them what their plans are." Christa said.

"I agree, we should see what they're thinking of doing." Luke said. "They might actually have a plan as opposed to us just trying to get rid of Carver by going through the mountains." Everyone nodded to Luke's suggestion, except for Nick who was still stubborn about the idea.

**Conversation with Kenny's group**

"Here you go." Walter said as he passed an extra bowl to Danielle.

"Thanks." Danielle replied as she accepted the bowl.

"So your name is Danny…?" Kenny asked with a confused stare. "Because last I checked, I thought that was a boy's name."

"My whole name is Danielle, but my friends will usually drop the last part and call me Dani." Danielle replied.

"Ah… okay." Kenny said and he started to smirk. "You'll have to help me with this stuff, old people like me get very confused very easily."

Anne rolled her eyes as Danielle giggled at the joke. Kenny smiled upon succeeding in making someone laughed and continued, "So that group over there. One of your people, Big Al, says that y'all are on the run."

"Yeah… some people are after us." Danielle said as she looked down sadly at the peaches and beans.

"She lost a friend because of those people." Anne explained.

"Damn, I'm sorry darlin. I didn't mean to make you upset." Kenny said with a remorseful stare.

"You didn't, it's… it was just a bad day for all of us." Danielle replied.

"I bet." Anne said.

Kenny pondered for a couple of seconds and asked, "How long are you all planning to stay?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask Luke." Danielle said.

"Hm…." Kenny hummed still pondering on a course of action.

"What are you thinking, honey?" Sarita asked.

"We're thinking of moving on from here and heading towards Wellington." Kenny said. Kenny then looked to Danielle and continued, "Maybe it's a good idea to go with y'all when it's time for you to head on out."

Anne smiled and said, "I think that's the best idea I've heard all day."

As if on cue, Christa and Luke got up from their table and switched places with Sarita and Walter.

"Hey." Anne said to get Danielle's attention. "I'm going to go talk to that Clementine girl."

"Okay." Danielle said and Anne left to talk to Clementine. Luke took the seat across Danielle and shot a saddened look towards her for choosing Kenny's table over his own. Danielle looked down sadly in response feeling guilty for her selection, but she wanted to visit Anne.

"I hope you enjoy the food." Kenny said, ruining the tense atmosphere.

"Oh yeah…" Luke said somewhat speechless. "It's-It's great. Thank you."

"It's peaches and beans." Kenny explained. "Great for nutrition. Not too great on the way out though." Kenny then busted up laughing at his own joke.

However, the other three looked disgusted by the inappropriate joke. "So gross." Danielle muttered as Kenny's laugh subsided.

"I have to admit, Christa, you found a good sized group." Kenny said.

"It used to be bigger." Christa said sadly.

"So, I've heard." Kenny said. He then looked to Luke and said, "I'm sorry for your loss. I know that's a tough deal."

"Yeah…" Luke said sadly.

"So what was your plan here Kenny?" Christa asked. "Hold out for the winter?"

"Actually, we were thinking of moving on. Somewhere up north." Kenny said. "Ever heard of a place called Wellington?"

All three of them nodded their heads and Luke said, "Yeah that was where Danielle, Christa, and Clementine were all heading for."

"Good, I think we'll head that way." Kenny said.

"I have to admit, I'm out of ideas." Luke said. "I was hoping to lose Carver and his men through the mountains, but I think they're still on our tail."

"I agree." Christa said. "We're going to Wellington."

"Hey, Dani." Walter said as he approached the table with Anne by his side. "Anne and I were thinking of going outside and getting some fresh air. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure." Danielle replied. They headed for the stairs as Clementine took Danielle's seat to talk to Kenny.

* * *

><p>Walter smiled to the two girls as they walked along the pathway. They walked in comfortable silence taking in the fresh air until Walter said, "They say the world is over." Anne and Danielle looked to Walter as he continued, "But I'll tell you a little secret; it's not. People are more political now than they ever were before. In the end, we can't change the world. All we can do is learn from each other; to emphasize the use of our heads. All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal."<p>

"What?" Anne asked.

"It's Steinbeck." Walter said. "You ever heard of him?"

"No, not really." Anne replied.

"Don't worry we'll take the time to learn about him." Walter said with delight. "It has been a while since I've had a class to teach."

"No thanks." Anne said. "I think I'll fall asleep during your classes."

"Then I would slam a book on your desk to wake you up." Walter said jokingly.

"Then I would glare at you." Anne joked.

"Then I would ignore you." Walter joked.

"Then I would go back to sleep." Anne said.

"Then the process would repeat itself." Walter said.

Danielle giggled and asked, "Are you two always like that?"

"All the time." Anne and Walter replied unison.

"Hey kids." Kenny said as he approached the three. They turned to him as he asked, "What are you three talking about?"

"Oh, Politics." Walter replied.

"The hell?" Kenny asked with a chuckle.

"Being from Florida, I would imagine that you know all about politics, Kenny." Walter replied.

"Man, I know one advantage of living in the apocalypse is not dealing with that shit no more." Kenny said while he looked to Anne and Danielle with a smile. He walked past the three heading for the back of the lodge and explained, "I was just going to check on the windows around back before this storm hits. Give me a hand?"

"Sure." Walter replied as the two girls nodded in confirmation that they would help.

The three went around back only to see a red haired woman peeking through one of the windows of the ski lodge. Kenny was shocked to see her and raised his gun, fearing that she was a bandit and was scoping out the area to attack it. Walter stopped Kenny by placing a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Kenny obliged and lowered the hunting rifle. "Miss?" Walter said to get the woman's attention.

She looked over and jumped upon seeing the four. She raised her hands in surrender as she stared wide eyed at Kenny's hunting rifle. "Please, do you have any food?" The red haired woman asked.

"Are you okay?" Walter asked as he approached the woman.

"I saw the house and… I have a family. We're starving." The woman explained. "We live down there." The woman gestured to the bottom of the mountain.

"Of course." Walter said. "Why don't you come in miss…?"

"Bonnie." The woman replied.

"Walt, I don't know. You're just going to let her in, like that?" Kenny asked with a glare towards the woman.

"It's fine, Kenny." Walter replied.

"We don't know this girl." Kenny said.

"Then we'll just have to get to know her, right Dani? Anne?" Walter asked as he looked to the two girls.

"Walt." Kenny hissed.

"How much damage can this poor woman do?" Walter asked.

"Walter's right, she seems harmless." Anne said.

"I agree, she's not going to hurt us." Danielle added.

"Thank you, really, but that storm'll be on us soon and I have got to get back to my family." Bonnie said.

"Alright, I'll bring something out to you then." Walter said.

"You don't have to do that." Bonnie said.

"No, no, it's fine." Walter said as he raised his hand up. "Just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be right back." Walter headed back towards the front doors of the lodge leaving Bonnie with Kenny, Danielle, and Anne.

Bonnie approached the three nervously as Kenny glared at her with his rifle at the ready. "I have a little girl like you." Bonnie said to Anne. She then placed her hand on her knees and slouched down to Anne's height and gave a warm smile to the girl. "How old are you sweetie?"

"I'm fourteen." Anne replied.

"That's pretty darn close." Bonnie replied. "The little girl that I have is just a year older."

She looked over to Danielle and asked, "How about you sweetie? You don't look too old."

"I'm ten." Danielle said.

"Really? You look like you're eight, no offense." Bonnie said.

"None taken, a lot of people mistake my age because of my height." Danielle replied.

Bonnie stood up straight upon seeing Walter coming around the corner. He carried a box of food which he handed to Bonnie. "Here you go, miss."

Bonnie took the supplies and her eyes widened in surprise. "This is too much." Bonnie said.

"Don't mention it." Walter said.

"I don't know how to thank you all." Bonnie said.

"Just help someone else down the line." Walter said.

"Thank you so much." Bonnie said with a smile. "Well, I'll be going now."

"Hold on." Anne said. She quickly grabbed her hunting knife and offered it to the woman. "Here, you're going to need something to protect yourself."

"No, sweetie. I-I couldn't do that." Bonnie said.

"I have a spare." Anne said. "And you're going to need something to defend yourself with."

Bonnie smiled to Anne and accepted the knife and said, "Thank you, all of you."

"Stay safe." Walter said.

"You too." Bonnie said and she started to head down the mountain.

Kenny was not happy with either of allies and said, "Dani, why don't you go inside. Walt, Anne, and I need to talk."

"Um… okay?" Danielle said and she headed for the entrance of the ski lodge.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Heck yeah! This is so much easier to write than Something to Fight For.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**

Danielle entered the ski lodge after the incident with the woman outside. She was confused why Kenny was so hostile to Bonnie and was angry at Walter and Anne. Despite everything that Danielle has been through, she still held a few of her morals. One of those morals was to always help people in need and Bonnie seemed extremely desperate.

Danielle climbed the stairs as she continued to think over the situation outside, until Luke appeared hiding behind a column and whispered, "Hey Dani." Danielle sent Luke a confused look as he looked around and then signaled her to come over. "Hey, don't freak out." Luke said to calm the girl. "Hey listen, I got to tell you something. That guy on the bridge was Walter's friend." Luke then pulled out a photo of the man that was shot by Nick and Walter standing side-by-side and gave it to Danielle to look at. Danielle's eyes widened; she knew something about the can of peaches was off, but she couldn't connect the pieces. "You see, I knew something was off, so I asked Sarita about their friend." Luke continued. "And now they're all worried that he's not back yet."

Danielle looked down sadly and asked, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't think Walter knows yet, so we're going to have to keep this quiet. I mean who knows what the hell he'd do if he found out." Luke said. "Now first thing's first, do you know where Clementine's backpack is? She has Matthew's knife, and if memory serves right, it was still in her backpack."

"Yeah I think she left it with the rest of our supplies." Danielle replied.

"Good, I need you to go down there and toss it. Get rid of it anyway you can." Luke said. "Because if Walter sees it, he's going to put two and two together. While you're doing that, I'll try to run interference with Walter, and oh… keep an eye out for Nick." Luke said.

"I'm right here." Nick said as he approached the two. "What's up?"

"Oh, uh… nothing man, just wanted to see if you were okay." Luke said as he walked out from behind the column.

"Hey man, I'm fine." Nick said.

"It's nothing." Danielle said.

"Hey, if there's something going on, I want to know." Nick said.

"Nah… just go to bed Nick." Luke said.

"I'm serious." Nick said. "You guys can talk to me."

"It's nothing." Danielle said. "Really, forget it." However, Nick knew something was up and stared at her with a saddened expression.

"Look, Dani go do that thing I asked you to do. Alright?" Luke said. Luke then turned to Nick and said, "Come on Nick, let's go find a beer or something." They walked away, leaving Danielle the task of finding Matthew's knife.

Danielle walked towards the stairs to retrieve the survival knife that Clementine had found in the station house earlier that day. She reached the bottom of the stairs and grabbed Clementine's backpack. She rummaged through it, but couldn't find Matthew's survival knife. "Well where is it?" Danielle pondered while starting to panic. She looked over to the entrance and saw Walter standing outside, looking over something that was in his hand.

* * *

><p>Danielle walked outside somewhat frightened by the way Walter was acting. The atmosphere did little to ease the tenseness of the situation. The wind's howl was almost as horrible as a walker's. Additionally, the wind caused the turbine to pick up speed. Danielle now could see what Walter had in his hands. It was Matthew's knife!<p>

"Walter…?" Danielle asked concerned for the kind man.

"I always liked this knife." Walter stated as he smoked a cigarette. He then unsheathed the blade and said, "I gave it to Matthew when all of this started. I know he's dead. Who did it? Was it that kid? What's his name… uh, Nick? Heard him talking earlier about shooting a man." Walter paused and said, "I could see it… I could see it on his face! I wasn't sure then… but now… I know what happened."

Danielle was frightened. The kind, educated man who was pleasant to be around was now unfriendly and dark. "W-We didn't do anything." Danielle lied.

"Where did you get the knife then?" Walter asked.

"I-I think Clementine found it. It was in a shack." Danielle explained. "There was no one inside."

Walter gripped the knife tighter. He huffed out some smoke from the cigarette and turned to Danielle. He dropped the cigarette and stomped on it and asked, "Is Nick a good man? Or is he like everyone else?"

Danielle looked down sadly as she couldn't tell the difference between Nick and the bandits back at Macon. Both Nick and the bandits have hurt innocent people, they both lost everything and were extremely reckless, and they were both cruel to strangers. "He's just like everyone else." Danielle replied.

Walter looked out to the windmill as Danielle heard the door open. Nick came out and saw Walter staring at the windmill as Walter explained, ""I told him something like this would happen. But he wouldn't listen. No Matt always knew best."

"What's going on?" Nick whispered to the young girl.

"You need to get out of here." Danielle whispered.

However, Walter overheard Nick and turned around to the young man with a glare. "This world is hell! People like Matthew are not coming back!" Walter exclaimed. "This is IT! And now he's GONE!" Walter looked at Nick and Danielle then back to Nick with a searing glare. "What did you do? Did you hurt him? Hm? Did you hurt Matthew?" Walter huffed to calm down and inspected Matthew's knife; he grew frustrated and tossed the knife aside.

"I didn't do anything. Alright?" Nick said. However, Walter looked to the young man with doubtful stare. Walter didn't believe Nick.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and the turbine started to spin out of control. The noise caused by the turbine was quite loud which caused the three on the front of the ski lodge to look up at it. Everyone, except for Rebecca and Alvin walked outside and observed the turbine.

"Walt, what's going on?" Kenny asked. However, Walter didn't respond and instead looked down sadly as he continued to mourn the loss of Matthew. The wind picked up even more and Kenny looked over from the front of the ski lodge and said, "The storm's got it spinnin outta control. That sounds gonna draw walkers. We gotta shut it down now!"

Christa turned to Nick and said, "Nick help me carry the guns." Nick nodded and the two went inside to retrieve any firearms that were in the ski lodge.

"Guns?" Sarita inquired.

Anne looked to Walter worriedly and asked, "Walter, are you okay?" Once again the man didn't respond and instead looked down with the fire of vengeance in his eyes.

Christa and Nick returned with several guns in hand. Clementine and Danielle accepted handguns as Sarita accepted a hunting rifle. Anne, on the other hand, was already armed with an 8 mm handgun. "That damn thing's a dinner bell!" Kenny bellowed and ran towards the wind turbine. Everyone followed him to the turbine as the wind continued to pick up speed.

Just as Kenny reached the control box, there was a loud bang nearby. Everyone looked to where the sound of the bang came from and Luke asked, "The hell was that?" They all looked over to the ski lodge to see the exterior lights turn off.

"Dammit, transformer must have gone." Kenny replied. "I gotta check it." Kenny then looked over his shoulder towards the group and said, "I could use a hand."

"I'll go with you." Luke said.

"I'm going too." Sarita added.

"No! It's too dangerous!" Kenny said. He then looked to the rest of the group and said, "The rest of you get this thing shut down." He then ran towards the blown transformer which must have been in the forest. Luke followed him as the rest of the group looked at the control box. Sarita opened it and looked inside to see all the switches and fuses.

"Okay, simple enough." Christa said and she looked to her young ally. "Clementine, can you provide me with a little light?"

Clementine nodded and grabbed her lighter to use as a light. Now with some light, Christa could see the key that would help turn off the device. She grabbed the key and placed it in the main switch and pressed it in. With that done, the turbine started to slow down until it came to a complete stop.

Clementine closed up the lighter and Nick looked to the woman questionably. "How did you know how to do that?"

"This isn't the first wind turbine that I've ran into." Christa replied.

"Something ain't right." Anne said as she scanned the tree line. The sound of gurgled growling and snarls filled the air and soon everyone could hear the volume and frequency of the growls and snarls increase. It was as if the wind turbine was being surrounded by walkers.

"We don't have much ammunition." Christa said as she raised her gun.

"We got to get back to the lodge." Nick said. Suddenly, the growling intensified from behind the group and they turned to see walkers approaching them from the rear. "They're behind us!" Nick exclaimed. Christa took aim with her handgun and shot a nearby walker. However, the walkers from behind proved to be persistent and continued towards the small group which was now consisted of Sarita, Nick, Christa, Danielle, Anne, and Clementine.

Sarita, Nick, and Christa shot from behind as Anne fired from the front. Clementine and Danielle watched on, waiting for the adults to come up with a plan. However, both went into action when they saw a walker approach them from behind. Danielle quickly raised her gun and shot the walker dead with a bullet passing through its skull. It slumped to the ground but both children knew they were still surrounded.

It was now that they noticed that the group was starting to fall apart. Anne stayed close to Sarita, both making quick work of any walkers that dared to limp in their general direction. Christa tried to hold her ground, now using her hunting rifle. However, Nick was in trouble. Nick fired at a couple of walkers but was backpedaling.

Both Clementine and Danielle decided to run over to help the young man. The two ran over to a rock for cover. However, when they got to cover, Nick ran off as a herd got closer to him, leaving both children to deal with the herd. The herd soon turned its focus on the two children and started to head for them.

Clementine and Danielle raised their guns and started to shoot at the herd. One-by-one the herd's numbers began to decrease. Each shot fired by the children left another walker to slump on the ground. Unfortunately, both of their guns clicked, indicating that they had no more ammunition. They both stepped back as the last two walkers approached them.

Thankfully, Christa looked over to see if they were alright and fired at the two walkers with her handgun. Both walkers slumped down to the ground, but she didn't notice a walker that was behind her. "Christa, watch out!" Clementine exclaimed.

The walker pushed her down and proceeded to get on top of her. Christa tried to push it off, but the walker was too strong. Clementine and Danielle tried to run to her aid, but they were too far away. Just as the walker was about to bite her, it suddenly stopped and became limp. Christa pushed the walker off and looked to see Anne retrieve her knife from the walker's skull. "Thank you." Christa said as she got back up.

"No problem." Anne replied.

"Christa!" Clementine exclaimed. Christa looked over to see Clementine run up to her and hugged her.

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm alright." Christa said as she patted Clementine's back.

"We have to move." Anne said as she noticed more of the undead. They nodded and the small group ran towards the lodge.

Suddenly, a walker grabbed onto Danielle's feet and tripped her. She groaned as she hit the ground, but no one took notice and they continued to carve a path to the lodge. Danielle kicked the walker a couple of times in a desperate attempt to free herself from its grasp. However, this only angered the walker and it started to climb on top of her. Danielle quickly grabbed her knife as the walker continued to try and grab her to which she stabbed the creature as it aimed to bite her neck. She huffed as she pushed the walker off of her and released a sigh of relief.

Her relief was short lived as she then heard Nick. "Somebody help me!" Nick exclaimed. She got up and ran towards the direction of the yell to see the young man struggling with a walker.

He tried to keep the walker away as much as he could but his strength was failing. Danielle then noticed Walter standing behind Nick with his gun aimed at the walker. Walter hesitated, not knowing whether he should help the young man who murdered his partner and lied about it.

Walter made his decision as he lowered the gun and looked away. Nick's strength finally faded and the walker bit down on his throat. He pushed the walker away and cried out in pain. Danielle looked away as the walker continued chomp down on Nick's neck. Nick fell to the ground as the walker continued to eat him.

Sensing that the brutal death was over, Danielle looked to Walter and the two ran over to the rest of the group. Walter went up to Christa who was struggling with several walkers. He shot at a nearby walker as Christa did the same. "Where's Nick?" Christa asked.

"I-" Walter began but was interrupted by Danielle.

"A walker got him." Danielle said.

"Shit…" Anne said.

Christa turned her attention back to the herd and exclaimed, "Clem, Dani… get inside, go!" The two complied and raced for the entrance of the ski lodge while Christa and Walter shot at the remaining walkers.

They ran inside and went up the stairs to the main floor. "Clementine, Danielle, are you both alright?" Rebecca asked upon seeing the two children. The two children ran up to Rebecca worriedly as automatic gunfire could be heard from outside.

"What the hell…?" Alvin asked. The four inside the ski lodge approached the large window to observe outside as more automatic gunfire erupted. Walkers fell left and right, and before any of the survivors knew it, the horde of walkers were dead. However, a threat far worse than the walkers came towards the group.

A man headed towards the group with three other people holding assault rifles. "Howdy folks." The man said with a smirk as his compatriots surrounded the group outside.

"Carver…" Rebecca said frighteningly.

Carver approached Christa who glared at him. "Where's Rebecca?" Carver asked.

"I don't know who that is." Christa hissed. In response, Carver punched Christa as hard as he could. She yelped in pain and stumbled but kept her footing.

Inside, Clementine gasped to see her guardian get hit. "Christa." Clementine said worriedly.

"Stay with us, honey. You don't want to get tangled up in that." Rebecca said.

Outside, Carver noticed the ski lodge and pointed towards it. "Inside." He commanded his group.

They obliged but then one of the members in Carver's group went up to Walter and Anne. They recognized her. It was the same woman that they helped out earlier and gave some supplies to. "It's you!" Walter exclaimed.

The woman, Bonnie, looked down sadly. She knew that she wasn't doing the right thing, but still said, "Keep moving."

"But why?" Anne asked, feeling slightly hurt that the person that she helped has turned on her and the group.

"Just shut up and get moving." Bonnie said. Anne looked down sadly as Walter gestured her to follow him.

* * *

><p>"Oh shit, we got to get out of here." Alvin said and the group approached the stairs. Unfortunately, the door opened while Danielle was still a good distance from the stairs. She could hear the footsteps of her group and the guards walking up the steps.<p>

Finally, Danielle made a quick decision and dived behind one of the chairs. The guards escorted the captured members to the wall adjacent to the decorated Christmas tree as Bonnie remarked, "Look at this place."

"It's freaking huge." One of the guards said. "Bill's going to hate it." He then looked towards Bonnie and said, "I think this place had electricity." Meanwhile, Alvin waved Danielle to move toward the stairs. She moved quickly and was fortunate enough to stay out of sight.

"Johnny cover that window." Bonnie said. The said guard nodded and went to the window. Alvin and Danielle made their way to join Rebecca and Clementine as Carver and the guards looked around.

Carver growled upon not seeing anyone from the cabin and grabbed Christa by her arm. He dragged her to the front of the group and gave her a quick punch to her stomach. She groaned in pain as she fell to the ground. Clementine gasped from cover while Carver hissed, "I'm only going to ask you once. Where is Rebecca? I know that she is somewhere in here along with Alvin, Luke, and that girl. Bonnie told me everything that she saw."

"I don't know… asshole." Christa snapped.

Carver was unimpressed and grabbed Christa's hand and pulled back a finger to where it was broken. Christa screamed in pain as Carver yelled out. "Rebecca? Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety. I know you are out there, with Alvin, Luke and the girl." Carver then released Christa from his grip to which Christa whined in pain from the newly broken digit. "This is real simple. If you want this over quick you all play nice and show your faces."

"He's going to kill her Bec." Alvin said.

"We can't go down there." Rebecca said.

"Please, we have to give up. Carver's going to kill Christa." Clementine pleaded. "I can't let that happen."

"Bec, the baby, you need someone with medical experience and Christa's the best we got." Alvin said.

"We have to help Christa." Danielle said.

"The only way we can help her is if we do what the man says." Alvin said.

"I can't do that." Rebecca said. With that Carver pulled back another one of Christa's digits. Her screams made Clementine flinch.

"We're going down there." Alvin said when he saw Clementine flinch.

"He'll kill you." Rebecca said. Alvin replied looking to her sadly. He knew that Carver killing him was a possibility.

"F*** you." Christa hissed. "Somebody shoot this f*****!" Carver pulled her back and placed a knife to her throat in response.

Bonnie looked on in horror and said, "Bill she doesn't know! Just stop."

"Stay the f*** out of this, Bonnie." One of the guards, Troy, hissed.

Meanwhile, Rebecca, Alvin, Danielle, and Clementine continued to talk on what course of action should be done.

"Danielle could sneak out and find Luke and Kenny." Rebecca said.

"What's she going to do?" Alvin asked. "Besides, Carver knows she's with us."

"He's going to kill her." Danielle said. "Rebecca, we have to give up."

Rebecca looked down sadly and then scowled. She got up and exclaimed, "Bill stop!"

Carver looked up to the second floor and smirked. "Ah." He said and he threw Christa to the ground.

Clementine rushed to her guardian and asked, "Christa, are you okay?" Her voice cracked slightly. Sad to see that Christa get physically beaten by a savage man.

"I'm fine, sweetie." Christa huffed.

"I'm so sorry." Clementine said.

"Alright, enough with this shit." Troy hissed as he approached Clementine and grabbed onto her shirt. He dragged her away from her guardian as Rebecca went up to Carver.

Danielle and Alvin joined Clementine while both shot a glare towards Carver. Carver caressed her cheek and asked, "Are you alright?"

"F*** you, Bill." Rebecca snarled. But if anything, Carver only smirked as Rebecca went to join Alvin. Troy tied up Clementine, Danielle, and Alvin as Rebecca was permitted to stand due to being late in her pregnancy. Christa groaned in pain as she was placed next to Clementine.

"Please, you don't want to do this." Walter pleaded with Bonnie as she looked over the newly captured people. "Just let these people go."

"Just shut up." Bonnie spat. It was evident in her voice and face that her guilt was starting to overwhelm her.

"So what? Are you just going to let this guy torture us just like Christa?" Anne asked.

"I said shut up." Bonnie spat again. She was starting to crack and considered that she had made one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded and busted through the glass. The shot went straight through Johnny's skull and he landed on the ground dead.

"Kenny…!" Sarita said somewhat worriedly.

Carver, Troy, and Bonnie quickly went into action. They raised their guns up towards the group to prevent them from getting excited. "Don't move!" Bonnie barked. The three then took cover behind a couple of columns and tried to see who the mystery marksmen could be. However, the storm and dark night made it impossible for them to make out anything. "I can't see them!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Watch them." Carver commanded and he went to Walter. He grabbed the man and placed him in a chokehold.

"No what are you going to do?" Anne exclaimed. "Walter!" Anne tried to slip out of her restraints as Carver pushed Walter forward. Carver then pushed him to the ground and fired point-blank into Walter's skull.

"NNNOOOOOOOO!" Anne exclaimed and tears started to form in her eyes.

"Walter!" Clementine exclaimed.

"That was for our man!" Carver shouted to the mystery sniper. "Now I didn't want to do that, but you ain't leaving me much option. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to march another one of your friends out here and I'm going to put a bullet in the back of their head. Or you can give up now, your choice."

Suddenly another shot was fired which hit the column that Carver was hiding behind. Carver merely shrugged and went up to Alvin. "Hi, Alvin." Carver said as he dragged the man to his feet.

"You motherf*****." Alvin spat.

"Alvin!" Rebecca exclaimed as she tried to stop Carver, but she was stopped by Troy who aimed his gun at her. "Bill no! Tell him to stop!" Rebecca shouted. "Kenny stop!"

Carver ignored her and kept his gun to Alvin's head. "You remember George, Alvin? You see, I do. I remember a guy who was your friend named George. I remember when you murdered him in cold blood. And why? Because you didn't like me?" Carver then stopped walking and continued as he kept his revolver at Alvin's temple. "You could have lodged a complaint. You could have… well you could have been civil about it."

"Bill no! We'll do whatever you want!" Rebecca pleaded.

Alvin turned to Rebecca and said, "I love you, Bec."

"BILL PLEASE!" Rebecca exclaimed.

Danielle glared and mumbled, "I'm not going to let him kill another friend." She got up and rushed towards Carver in an attempt to protect Alvin, but instead she received a blow to her chest. She collapsed on her knees gasping for air as Carver glared at her. He threw Alvin to the ground and picked up the young girl. Carver placed the barrel of his revolver to her temple as she whimpered. "I can do this all night. Is that what you want?" Carver asked the mystery sniper.

"Bill, let her go." Rebecca pleaded. "She hasn't done anything to you."

"You f******!" Anne hissed. "You're nothing but a worthless coward."

Finally the doors to the ski lodge opened and everyone looked over to see Kenny raising his hands in surrender. Bonnie went over and tied him up and shoved him to join the others. Danielle and Alvin were forced to join the captured group members.

Kenny took Walter's spot as he glared at Carver. "Where's Luke?" Carver inquired. No one answered as Carver continued, "Finally cut and run, huh? Why am I not surprised?" Carver then approached Rebecca and Alvin and said, "I warned you. I warned you not to follow him. And look where he's led you." Carver then walked away from the group and looked towards the door front. He then turned back to the group and said, "But you're safe now." Carver approached Rebecca and ignored Alvin. "We're going home now, as a family." Carver then eyed the bulge of Rebecca stomach which was her baby. Alvin glared at Carver as the rest of the group looked down anxiously, unsure of what was going to happen next.

"Alright. Round them up." Carver told Troy and Bonnie. "We're heading back to camp." With that, one-by-one, each person from the group was hoisted up and forced to leave.

Anne paused to look at Walter sadly. He was an amazing friend and seeing him die by some psycho was saddening to her. "Come on, you g-got to keep moving." Bonnie said remorsefully.

Anne glared at Bonnie but obliged and soon the only thing that remained in the ski lodge was Walter's body.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Boy, a lot of character deaths in this chapter. It feels like a Walking Dead FanFiction again. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**

It has been hours now, sitting in the back of the truck. Everyone was quiet within the vehicle as it hit a couple of bumps and shook from the impact.

"Alright, we got to do something. Come on. Anyone got anything sharp? Anything?" Kenny said as he looked around to his captured group members. "We need to get these bindings off." Kenny then looked to Anne as he found that no one else was willing to assist him. "Hey! Anne, help me find something that will get these off. Anything sharp that can cut these…"

"And what good is that going to do?" Rebecca asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Kenny inquired. "We got to get out of here."

"Like what?" Anne asked.

"I'm not sure, yet." Kenny said as he scanned the vehicle looking for anything cut his bindings. "Just help me search for something sharp. Shit! Come on, we're in a f****** precarious position here! We got to do something about that!"

Settle down, Kenny." Christa spoke up. "They took everything from us. We have to keep a level head."

"She's right." Rebecca said. "You don't know Bill like we do."

"Bill?" Kenny inquired. "This whole time it has been Carver, Carver, Carver. And now it's f******* Bill?" The truck hits another bump from outside and the back part of the vehicle shook from the hit. "Oh, I see what it is. Y'all are just getting a ride home, aren't ya? That's what's going on here."

"You don't understand. He's different… he's worse." Rebecca said.

"The f*** are you talking about?" Kenny snarled.

"She's right, Kenny." Danielle said. "This… jerk killed my friend Sarah for no reason, and he's responsible for the deaths of Carlos and Pete. There isn't any humanity left in him."

"I-Is he going to kill us?" Clementine asked.

"No, I-I don't think so." Rebecca said.

"He's a f****** psychopath!" Kenny exclaimed.

"Which is why we really need to think this through!" Christa exclaimed. "Kenny if you go in there brashly, you might get hurt, or even worse one of the kids might get hurt."

"Kenny, please listen to her, think about the girls." Sarita pleaded. Kenny shot up at the mention of the younger group members that were now with him. It would have been alright for him to be brash and try to take out these guys with Anne by his side, but what about Danielle and Clementine. Kenny sighed trying to think of a new course of action.

Anne looked to Kenny and said, "Hey, I'm willing to help you. What do you want to do?"

"Maybe we can find a breach when we're inside." Christa suggested. "Isn't that how you and Lee escaped the St. John's?" Danielle jumped at the mention of the St. John's Dairy which went unnoticed by mostly everyone.

"Yeah… yeah that's right." Kenny said. They hit another series of bumps which rocked the back of the vehicle.

"Dani, are you okay hon? What's wrong?" Rebecca asked. Everyone looked to Danielle as she looked to Kenny completely shocked.

"Wait a minute! The St. John's as in The St. John's Family Dairy back in Georgia right next to Macon?" Danielle inquired.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kenny asked.

"I lived in Macon, Georgia before the outbreak." Danielle said. Kenny's and Clementine's eyes widened when they heard this and they looked to her. "My mom and I were set up in a campsite near the Dairy, little did we know that there were bandits in the area. The bandits had a little deal with the St. John's, food for protection." Once again, the vehicle rocked from hitting more bumps but this time it rocked more, indicating that it hit several bumps and obstacles on the road.

"Yeah, yeah that's right!" Kenny exclaimed. "Holy shit! Well, wait a second! Why didn't we ever find you? You said you were close by to the Dairy."

"We were." Danielle said. "You guys must have not gotten far from the Dairy."

"Wait, Lee and Danny St. John did go out to search for some of the bandits that attacked Mark." Clementine said to Kenny. "Remember, they did find a camp, but they found a crazy woman instead of bandits."

"Crazy woman?" Danielle asked. Suddenly the vehicle stopped momentarily only for the sirens to be heard. The vehicle was starting to back up as the conversation continued.

"Yeah, now I remember." Kenny said. "She was covered and dirt and mud. She had brown hair and Lee told me that Danny shot her right through the forehead, no hesitation. I guess that was our first clue that the St. John's weren't all that they appeared to be."

Danielle looked down sadly at the mention of the 'crazy woman' who got shot by Danny St. John. "Dani, are you alright?" Anne asked.

Danielle looked up to see everyone looking to her worriedly. "…The woman that Danny shot was my mom." Kenny and Clementine both jumped upon receiving the news as Danielle continued, "I remember clearly that I found her… with a bullet wound to her forehead. Her name was Jolene…"

"That does sound familiar." Kenny said.

"I can't believe that we were that close to each other." Clementine said.

"Yeah… I'll be darn, that's quite the coincidence." Kenny remarked. "Clem and I wer-" Kenny started to say but was interrupted with a loud crash which made everyone fall towards the back door. They shouted in surprise as the truck's siren ceased.

* * *

><p>"Everyone alright?" Kenny asked as he got back up.<p>

"Yeah, I'm good." Rebecca said as she got up.

"Damn brakes ain't working for shit!" Troy spat from the other side of the door as the door was lifted up. In front, of the door stood Troy, Tavia, and Bonnie, each holding an assault rifle.

"Alright, up and at em!" Tavia said. Everyone got up in response to Tavia's request and started to head out of the vehicle and entered the loading bay. Eventually, the back of the vehicle was empty and the door was slammed shut by Troy. He caught up with Bonnie and the two led the group while Tavia took the rear.

Meanwhile, Carver could be heard over the PA announcing, "We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight. Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring some of these people back when they left us as they did."

"I think I got an idea." Tavia commented.

"It might not come all at once." Carver continued over the PA. "But time will heal these wounds, so be patient with them until it does…" Bonnie opened a set of double doors and they continued to walk through what appeared to be a hardware store. Guards took up positions all around the area, making sure that the group wouldn't pull any moves to escape. The guards were informed of the new arrivals. "…And take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make this home a better place. All these feelings you have of anger…betrayal….hate… they're all valid. No one needs to forget what they did… but we have to find it in our hearts to forgive them."

"Does this guy ever shut up?" Anne asked.

"I really hope so." Danielle said.

"Hey, shut up and show some respect." Tavia barked.

"I don't respect murders." Danielle snapped as she looked to Tavia with a glare. Tavia jumped from the young girl's reply. She wanted to make a case for her leader, but even she knew that he was wrong in killing Sarah.

"Same." Anne added.

"Look how much food they have…" Clementine said surprised by the shelves filled with food.

"I hope you ain't say what I think you're saying." Kenny said.

"Come on, we need you for something." Troy told Christa.

"What exactly do you need me for?" Christa asked.

"Just come the f*** on." Troy said bitterly. "We know that you're the new doc."

"Well you have been heavily misinformed. I didn't even finish nursing school." Christa said.

"Well, unfortunately, you're the best we got." Troy said. "Now come on." Christa sighed and she followed Troy over to talk to Vera.

Meanwhile, Clementine looked over and asked, "Christa?"

Christa looked over and yelled, "I'll be back Clem, just go with the others."

"Okay, stay safe." Clementine said.

"You too, sweetie." Christa said and she started to talk to Vera.

Meanwhile, Troy glared at Clementine as the girl joined Anne and Danielle. Troy and Tavia followed the group as they headed to the door with Carver still lecturing in the background.

They finally reached a garage door as Bonnie unlocked the padlock to the courtyard, which now acted as a prison. "Make sure y'all are off the fence." Bonnie warned. "Bill can see if you're messin with it."

Bonnie opened the garage door as Carver could be heard lecturing in the background. The group entered the courtyard which consisted of a fire pit and lawn chairs that surrounded the fire pit. Next to the fire pit were a couple of dining tables and furthest from the fire pit was plywood which acted as bedding. Troy and Bonnie took everyone's bindings off and Troy said, "Y'all better get some rest, cause there ain't going to much for ya tomorrow. You're going to be working hard."

"That's for you." Bonnie gestured to the cot that was adjacent to the garage door.

"Yeah, it would be." Rebecca said with a glare. "F****** Bill. Leaves me out in the cold, but at least I will be comfortable"

"Hey guys." A man's voice chimed.

Rebecca looked to the man and exclaimed, "Reggie!" She gasped upon seeing him and went up to the man. "I'm so sorry!" Rebecca exclaimed as she hugged him. "I'm so sorry." Alvin approached the man as he and Rebecca separated from the hug. "What did they do to you?" Rebecca asked. Alvin frowned upon seeing that his old friend had lost left arm.

"This could have been worse. Trust me." Reggie assured Rebecca. "I'm lucky to be alive. They had me working outside. Lurker snuck up on me while I was hammering something. Luckily, they took the arm off quick. Saved my life."

"That's awful." Rebecca said sadly. "I'm so sorry."

"Look, it was my choice to help you guys." Reggie said.

Tavia went up to Alvin and said, "Alvin, Bill wants you in his office."

"What, why?" Alvin asked.

"Don't make this difficult. It's too late for that." Tavia spat.

"No, please!" Rebecca pleaded.

"It's okay, Bec." Alvin reassured his wife. "Just get some rest. If he wanted to do something to me, he would have done it by now. I'll be fine" Alvin then turned to Tavia and said, "Let's see what he wants." The two left the yard and went inside the warehouse, leaving the rest of the group to look on worriedly.

"Hey, Reggie." Troy said and he approached the man.

"Oh… hey Troy." Reggie said somewhat reluctant to talk to him.

"Don't go f***** up now!" Troy spat. "Bill's real close to letting you out of here. You make sure everything stays nice and quiet out here tonight, and I'll be sure to let Bill know just how helpful you were."

"Yeah, you can count on me. Thanks Troy." Reggie replied.

"Don't mention it." Troy said and he and Bonnie left the courtyard, closing the garage door in the process.

Reggie who looked to the rest of the group with a questioning stare. "Oh right. Let me introduce you. We were with them when we got caught." Rebecca explained.

Reggie smiled and he went to greet the newcomers. "Hi, I'm Reggie."

"That's Sarita…" Rebecca introduced the Indian-American woman.

"Hello." Sarita greeted the man.

"That's Kenny." Rebecca continued.

"Hi there." Kenny said with a smile.

"That's Clementine." Rebecca said as she gestured to the young eleven year old.

"Hi." Clementine greeted.

"And that's Anne." Rebecca said as she introduced the teenager.

"Hey." Anne greeted.

"Hi." Reggie said. Reggie smiled to the teenager but then noticed Danielle and asked, "Hello, who are you?"

"My name's Danielle." The girl introduced herself.

"Well I have to say, it's nice to meet you all." Reggie said with a smile. He then frowned upon looking around the group. "Hey, where's Pete?"

Danielle looked down sadly as Rebecca did the same. "Oh…" Reggie said sadly. "…And Nick?" Once again no one said anything. Reggie sighed and said, "He always was taking stupid risks. What about Sarah and Carlos?"

In response to his question, Rebecca hissed, "Bill killed them."

"What?" Reggie exclaimed. "Now hold on, I don't think he would go that far."

"He did go that far." Danielle said angrily. "I saw it with my own two eyes. He beat Sarah nearly to death and by the time we got back, she was gone."

"Carlos committed suicide, which is also Bill's fault." Rebecca hissed.

"Guys, I'm so sorry. I…I know… He may have had a good reason for doing that." Reggie said.

"A good reason? For killing a kid?" Kenny inquired. "Yeah, the reason is because he's a f******* psycho."

"That's putting it lightly." Anne added.

"Can you guys save it for the morning?" An angry exclamation was heard from one of the plywood beds. A lean man who wore a gray and black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and black shoes looked to the group with a slight glare and continued, "Some of us have to get up early in the morning."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Clementine said. In response, the man placed the pillow on top of his head to ignore some of the noise.

"Who's that, Reggie?" Rebecca asked. "I don't recognize the voice."

"That's Mike." Reggie said. "He's kind of a dick when he's tired but… he saved my life so I put up with that shit. Bill put him to work outside the wall with me."

"I'm so sorry." Rebecca said.

"Stop with all of the sorry." Reggie said. "It was my choice. Besides, he said once you were all caught, he'd let me rejoin the group, so I'm glad that you are here." Clementine looked over and noticed that there was a teenage boy who appeared to be fifteen years old glaring at the group. He wore a red hooded sweatshirt over a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of black shoes. He appeared to have brown hair and brown eyes.

Reggie scoffed as he continued, "I'm just kidding."

"I know." Rebecca replied.

"He did actually say that, but it's probably bullshit." Reggie said.

"Who's he?" Clementine asked.

"Hm? Who?" Reggie asked.

"That boy over there." Clementine replied.

Now with the whole group looking at him, the boy got up and started to walk away from the table and to one of the plywood beds. "Oh yeah, him. Okay, so he's f****** weird." Reggie explained. "They found him sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and like the grossest shit."

"It's probably best not to stare." Rebecca said.

"I know how it must look, but… it really is not that bad here." Reggie explained.

"Reggie…" Rebecca said.

"No, I'm serious!" Reggie exclaimed. "Where else are you going to find food like we have? We've got the canned stuff and now with the greenhouses coming along we've got fresh food. The building's getting more and more secure all the time… mostly through forced labor, but that's only temporary. They've even gotten the solar panels working. When was the last time you've had electricity, huh?"

"We actually came from a place powered by a wind turbine." Danielle said.

"It's not a competition." Reggie said. "I'm just saying that it's not as bad as you think. We're building something great here. A real community and Bill is making it happen."

"That does not make up for what he's done, Reggie." Rebecca said.

"Look, I made mistakes and Bill had every right to kill me, but he didn't and instead he's giving me a shot at redemption." Reggie explained. "I wasn't looking at all of my options earlier, but now with my arm, I'm starting to see what this place has to offer."

"He killed Walter and Sarah!" Anne exclaimed. "He had a part in the death of Pete and Carlos! And he nearly killed Alvin and Dani back at the lodge!"

Reggie sighed and said, "Listen, I'm really close to getting let back into the group and once that happens, I can do a lot more to help you guys get comfortable."

"Comfortable?" Kenny inquired. "What do you think this is?"

"I just don't want you guys to mess things up for me. I've worked really hard to get to this point." Reggie explained. "Will you please just try not to cause any trouble?"

"We won't cause you any trouble." Clementine said.

"They're expecting me to keep things in line out here." Reggie said.

"Well, if Carver's such a 'great guy' I'm sure you have nothing to worry about." Kenny said angrily. He received a glare from Sarita which went unnoticed by him.

"We can at least talk about it in the morning." Reggie said. "Just have a quiet night and chat again tomorrow."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Rebecca said.

"There's nothing more to talk about." Danielle said. "Your leader is a murder and that is just the truth."

"Well, here is another piece of truth, Bill had every reason to kill me when I helped you guys… but he didn't!" Reggie said. "Obviously, I don't know what happened when you all were gone, but he's giving me a second chance and I know that he'll do the same for you."

"Reggie, I don't want a second chance." Rebecca hissed. "After what he did to Sarah, I want him dead." Suddenly, Rebecca felt a sharp pain that came from her stomach. She gasped and grabbed her stomach. "I need to sit down." Rebecca said.

Sarita approached Rebecca and said, "Yeah, come on. Clem? Can you help me find something to drink for her?"

"Yeah, okay." Clementine replied as she went towards the fire pit.

"Yeah, there's some water over by the benches." Reggie explained as the three walked to the fire pit. "That didn't go as planned… should've actually made a plan." Reggie remarked as he walked towards the group, leaving Anne, Danielle, and Kenny to talk amongst themselves.

Kenny crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Man, f*** that guy. I don't think we can trust him. Clearly, he has drank too much of the Kool-Aid."

"He's just scared of Carver." Anne said.

"Yeah, I can't say that I blame him." Danielle said.

"Everybody's scared." Kenny snarled. "Ain't no excuse to act like a complete nutcase." Kenny then scanned the yard and started to walk away from the two explaining. "See if you two can take a look around." The two caught up with the older man as he continued, "There might be some weaknesses in here that we can exploit."

"We'll try." Anne said.

"That Troy asshole is gone for now." Kenny said as he looked back to the garage door. "This is our chance. Don't worry about Reggie. I'll go help run interference on him." Kenny then went to the fire pit and started to talk to Reggie.

Danielle and Anne looked to each other and they both sighed. "...So how have things been?" Danielle asked.

"They've been better." Anne said. "I've ran into some true psychopaths out there, but this Carver guy really takes the cake." Danielle looked down sadly until Anne said, "By the way, what was DJ going to name her baby? I know she and I didn't get along, but I am curious."

"If it was going to be a boy, she would have named him Robert. If it was a girl, she would have named her Scarlet." Danielle explained.

"Those are nice names…" Anne said sadly she shook her head to refocus and said, "Let's take a look around." Anne then left to scan the winch and soil.

Danielle went over towards a section of the wall and analyzed it. The wall was extremely thick and well-built with two wooden layers, one ran horizontal, while the outer wall ran vertical. The wall was supported by a metal frame from outside to make escaping impossible.

Danielle noticed some shelves on the other side of the camp and approached them. On the way to the shelves, she saw the boy that Reggie was talking about earlier. He looked to the ground distantly until Danielle said, "Hey." He looked up to her as she continued, "Talk to me."

"Beat it, kid." The boy mumbled and turned away from her. Danielle shook her head and continued to walk towards the shelves.

She tested the shelves with her own weight, only for it to creak. Danielle sighed and said, "No good." She jumped off the shelves and continued, "If it struggles to support my weight, then more than likely, it won't support anyone else's."

She walked back over to the fire pit as Anne talked to Kenny. "Well, did you find anything?"

"Worse comes to worst, we could use that winch over there to escape, but that would be risky considering that there are guards patrolling." Anne explained.

"Damn…" Kenny said. He then noticed Danielle and asked, "How about you Dani? Did you find anything?"

"The walls are too thick." Danielle said. "There's at least two layers to them. And we can't climb over them either. The shelves over there are too rickety."

Suddenly the garage door opened up. Everyone looked over to see Christa walking into the courtyard with Troy escorting her with his assault rifle aimed at her.

"Christa!" Clementine exclaimed happily and she ran up to hug her guardian.

Christa returned the hug as Troy barked, "Alright, the rest of you go the f*** to sleep. I'm shootin the first of y'all that I see wonderin around before sun-up."

Troy then headed for the garage door as Rebecca exclaimed, "Troy, where's Alvin?" However, Troy ignored her and slammed the garage door down.

With that, Sarita, Kenny, Christa, Danielle, Anne, Clementine, and Reggie went to their own plywood beds as Rebecca went to the cot provided by Carver. Kenny looked up to his fellow group members and said, "Some of these folks ain't too keen on leaving. It's up to us to find a way out of here. Y'all up for it?"

"I'll try." Clementine said.

"We all will." Christa said. "We are not staying in this hellhole."

"Swear." Clementine said.

"Sorry." Christa said.

"So, how are we going to get out of here?" Danielle asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Dani." Kenny said. "I guess we'll figure that out tomorrow. For now, let's get some sleep." The group complied with the order and laid down allowing sleep to take them away from reality. Unfortunately, one member couldn't sleep well that night. Danielle thrashed around in her sleep at all of the horrible memories of finding her mom dead in the campsite.

**Morning**

Danielle opened her eyes as she received a kick to her stomach. She looked up to Troy who stared at her. "Don't kick me." Danielle said. "It's rude."

Troy's stare turned into a glare and he said, "Get up, Bill's going to have a little word with y'all."

Danielle hesitantly got up and walked over to the group as Carver entered the yard with several other guards accompanying him. They were all armed with assault rifles and most wore an angry scowl directed towards the group.

"There's been increased activity along the fence so be mindful when outside the walls." Carver explained as Troy walked up and joined Tavia. "The herd's moved closer as of this morning, but that still doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit. Know that we're monitoring the situation." Carver then adjusted his focus to a new topic and started to explain, "Now… there might be some folks who are sore about what happened… at how things went. That's all in the past now. Most of you are new to our community, a few of you are members that went astray. But know that you can find redemption here… forgiveness… by proving your worth through what will undoubtedly be hard work." The group could hear some light snoring as Carver continued his speech.

Carver turned to Reggie and said, "Reggie, you're nearly back in. Keep following the path, and we'll welcome you back with open arms." Carver then directed his attention towards the group and continued, "I'll let Reggie be an example to you all, and maybe one day, it'll be your turn to be welcomed-" Carver then stopped himself as the snoring got louder. He glared at the boy from last night who was the source of the snoring. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. "Troy, wake him up."

"Yeah." Troy said. He approached the boy and slammed the butt of the rifle into the boy's face. The boy hit the ground with a grunt and grumbled as he got up from the hit. "Learn some respect, you piece of shit."

"Now why would I want to respect any of you people? You're just a bunch of assholes." The boy replied. Troy glared at the boy as the boy looked to Carver, "I do not care about joining your stupid community or 'redemption' all I want is my bow and then I'm out of here."

"Troy, settle down." Carver said as Troy was about to speak. Troy obliged and Carver looked to the boy, "Tell you what, Zeke, you keep helping us with the work load and I'll give you that bow back." The boy, Zeke, shook his head in doubt as Carver continued, "Everyone, get to work. Most of you know your assignments."

Zeke went up to Anne and said, "Come on, kid. You and I are using the winch to send soil up." The two walked over to the wall where the winch was being lowered to the ground.

"Kid?" Anne inquired. "You and I are almost the same age."

"Really? How old are you?" Zeke asked.

"I'm fourteen." Anne replied.

"You're still a kid. I'm fifteen." Zeke said.

"Uh, newsflash fifteen means that you're still a kid." Anne said.

"Wrong." Zeke said. "You see, you're still a kid, not only because you're a year younger than me, but also because you rely on a 'group' still. Take it from me kid, groups fall apart easily. They don't last. Your best option is to leave before things start going to shit."

"How can you even think that way?" Anne asked. "You know what, f*** you. You want to act that way, fine, but I'm not."

Anne expected Zeke to feel bad for what he said, but he merely shrugged and said, "Fine, suit yourself. I'm just trying to give you information that may save your life. Either way, we need send this soil up top or Carver's going to chew us out. And I don't feel like getting hit in the face by a rifle twice in one morning." Zeke then grabbed a bag of soil and started to strap it to the hook.

* * *

><p>Danielle and Clementine looked over to the scene with Anne and Zeke until they heard Tavia from behind. "You two will be working in the armory today. Follow me." Tavia said as she led the two inside the warehouse.<p>

Both children stopped when they heard an exclamation, "Soil, coming up." It was followed by the churning and breaking of wood.

A couple of bags of soil landed left to them as they heard Kenny snap, "Damn, this thing."

"Piece of shit, breaks all the time." Zeke said.

"Clementine! Danielle!" Tavia could be heard shouting from within the warehouse. The two girls quickly ran inside to catch up with the guard.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Having Zeke replace Jane was an awesome idea. I do not exactly hate Jane, but she is definitely not my favorite character. Plus there's already too many strong female lead characters; I need a strong male lead character and I think Zeke will do that.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**

"Who are these two?" A teenage girl asked as Danielle and Clementine continued to walk with Tavia.

"They're part of the new people." A young woman explained as she looked to the two children. "They were with Rebecca and Alvin and-"

"Ugh Sarah's group, anyone but her." The girl complained as she turned back to the woman. Danielle cringed at the mention of her late friend's name especially when the teenager was criticizing her. "I wish she'd stay gone."

"She's had a hard time, Becca." The woman said. "…And now that I think about it, I didn't see Sarah with the group last night or Carlos for that matter."

Clementine and Danielle looked back to the two as they continued their conversation. "Hey, we've had a hard time, too." Becca said as she sent a glare towards the two girls. "But, we're not sitting on the ground crying like babies."

Both Clementine and Danielle looked forward again as Tavia led the two children to a metal door and said, "Go on inside. Bonnie's waiting." Tavia opened the door and the two entered. They looked over and could see Bonnie with two lawn chairs set up around an ammo box.

Bonnie gestured them to sit with her and she said, "Hey, I guess you're starting your day with me." The two nodded and took a seat as Bonnie grabbed a couple of empty magazines and handed one to Danielle who sat closest to Bonnie as Clementine grabbed one of the empty magazines next to her. "We're loadin magazines." Both Clementine and Danielle started to place bullets within the magazines as Bonnie looked to them happily saying, "That's it. You got it."

They continued to load the magazines for several seconds until Bonnie looked to Danielle and said, "I suppose that I owe you an apology… I wasn't truthful when I came across y'all at the lodge… and I was shown with kindness I never would have expected from a group of strangers. But now… folks are dead… and I can't help but feel I'm to blame. But the plan was for no one to get hurt…"

Danielle stayed quiet; there was nothing else to it. She, Walter and Anne welcomed and even helped Bonnie and in return Bonnie got Walter killed. Danielle continued to load the magazine as Bonnie looked on remorsefully. "You're mad at me and you have every right to be. All I can say is that I'm so sorry." Bonnie said. "I know that it doesn't account for much, but it's all I can offer right now."

Danielle continued to load the magazine in silence as Clementine looked to her worriedly. Danielle has never been this mad before. "Come on, sweetie. What do you want from me?"

There were a couple of seconds of silence until Danielle spoke, "How am I supposed to trust you when we helped you and that ended up getting my friend killed?"

Bonnie looked down sadly and said, "You're right, I've done nothing to earn your trust. Even worse, your friend is now dead because of me."

"Carver is the bad guy in all of this, Dani, not Bonnie." Clementine said.

Danielle sighed and said, "I guess Clem's right… but I still don't think that I should trust you."

"I don't expect you to, sweetie. I just… I know that I made a huge mistake back there. I led Bill to your front door step. I tried to control the situation, but Bill left no room for debate. He just took over; I don't think I've ever seen him like that before. The plan was to recapture what was left of Luke's group, but then he captured people that weren't even supposed to be captured in the first place." Bonnie said as she continued to load the magazine. "Anyway, how was your first night in the yard?"

"You mean our first night in prison." Clementine muttered.

"It ain't a prison." Bonnie replied. "Think of it as a work release."

"Didn't they have those in prison too?" Clementine asked.

"Well, I guess. I don't know." Bonnie said. "I've never been in prison." She then leaned over as if to tell a secret and whispered, "Don't tell no one. I'm trying to keep a tough reputation." The two girls smirked at the joke as the three continued to load the magazines.

"You know, I was supposed to go… when Luke, Carlos, and all of em left, I was planning on leaving too." Bonnie said. "When Luke approached me about it, I-I thought that he was crazy. I mean we got food, electricity and shelter here."

"They never mentioned you." Danielle said. "Luke and Pete found me about a little over a week ago, but they never mentioned you."

"They didn't?" Bonnie said as she looked down sadly for a couple of seconds. She shook her head to refocus and said, "Well, that does make sense. I mean what are they going to say? Bonnie ain't here? You wouldn't have known what he was talking about." Having a full clip of ammunition, Bonnie placed her loaded magazine on the table and grabbed one of the empty magazines to fill.

"Anyway, I justified my reason of not going by saying that it was easier to fix something broken than to start all over." Bonnie explained to the two. "Take this situation with the herd… that's the type of thing that rips a community apart. He keeps things in line… he has a lot of stuff figured out."

"Nobody is safe here with Carver around." Clementine said.

"You're safe as long as you stay on his good side." Bonnie said.

"I think we would if we knew where it was." Clementine mumbled.

"I mean it ain't easy keeping a group this big fed and protected. I don't envy that position. Figured that'd make anyone stressed. I'm not defending what he did back at the lodge. That was…" Bonnie remarked. "…I'm alive because of him and that's just a fact."

"He killed Walter and Sarah!" Danielle exclaimed.

"Only to protect his own people! Kenny would have killed us all!" Bonnie replied. Both girl shook their heads unconvinced. Neither believed that the two murders were justified. Bonnie sighed and continued, "Bill overreacted. He was in the heat of the moment and he overreacted. And as for Sarah…" Bonnie looked down sadly and shook her head. "…I don't know. Maybe Luke was right about him… I wish he was around, but… I just hope he's safe."

"You and me both." Danielle said sadly. "He and I… we've gotten pretty close."

"How so?" Bonnie asked as she looked at the young girl.

"He's my guardian." Danielle replied.

Suddenly, Bonnie's hand-held radio came on and Tavia's voice came over it. "Hey Bonnie, are those girls down there with you? I need to come and get them."

Bonnie pressed the button and said, "Yeah, they're here."

"Okay, I'll come right over." Tavia said.

Clementine looked to be distressed by the fact that Tavia mentioned her and Danielle by request. Bonnie noticed this and said, "I'm sure it's fine." Bonnie then reached over and grabbed the magazines from the two and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. I got something for ya." Bonnie then got up and retrieved a purple hooded sweatshirt with a small pink butterfly design on it and handed it to Clementine.

She looked back with a grin as Clementine placed the sweatshirt on as Danielle held Clementine's hat. After Clementine placed her hat back on, Bonnie asked, "Huh? What do you think? I found it on a supply run before my group and I found Howe's. I got it for Becca, but she despised it. I forgot that she hates purple and pink. But I thought it looked too cute to throw out, so I kept it just in case."

"It's cool. I like it." Clementine said with a smile. "Thanks Bonnie."

"You're welcome." Bonnie said. "You'd better watch yourself. Some folks might be jealous of that snazzy sweatshirt."

"Oh there you are." Tavia said as she entered the door. "Bill needs you two up in the greenhouse. Once I get you two there, I have to radio down and ask him what he wants from you two. You ready?"

The two girls nodded and looked to Bonnie. "I'll see you two, later. You're probably going to come back to me for more orders." Bonnie said.

The two girls nodded as Tavia said, "Come on." She then headed for the door with the two girls following her.

* * *

><p>Danielle and Clementine followed Tavia to the roof. She opened the door to the roof as she barked, "Follow me. Come on."<p>

Clementine and Danielle followed her both looking questioningly at each other. They continued to walk as Tavia led them to a greenhouse which was located on top of the building. Tavia opened the door for the two children to which they entered the greenhouse. "Stay in here for a minute, I'm going to radio down and find out what you two are doing. Don't touch anything." Tavia said followed by her closing the door.

They both marveled at the sight of the greenhouse and looked to each other. The new information that Danielle learned from Kenny and Clementine last night kept a constant presence in her mind. She had to ask Clementine what happened. "Clem, please tell me about my mom." Danielle said. "Your guardian, Lee, talked to her last and I… I need to know what happened."

Clementine looked down sadly and shook her head. "I can't Dani. From what I overheard from his conversation with the rest of my old group, Lee said that your mom was not very well. I also learned that she took my hat and was watching us with a camcorder. She must have thought that you were dead and it really affected her."

"I guess… that's for the best." Danielle said sadly.

"I wish we could have found you back in Macon. We could have been friends much sooner." Clementine said with delight.

"Yeah, that would have been really awesome." Danielle said. "I really would have liked to see Lee. From the way you, Christa, and Kenny talk, he sounded like one of the nicest people in the world."

Clementine looked down sadly and said, "Yeah, he… he was a convicted murder." Danielle looked to Clementine surprised to hear what Lee was as Clementine continued, "But you know, he never let that affect himself. He spared a lot of people's lives and saved twice as many, including mine."

Danielle visibly relaxed and asked, "Were you ever scared of him?"

Clementine shook her head and said, "No, I felt safe with him, safer than what I would have felt around anyone else at the beginning of this thing, with the exception of my parents."

A moment passed by the two until Danielle looked to Clementine perplexedly and asked, "You said, 'parents'? As in having a mom and a dad?" Her curiosity was starting to rise. She never had a dad and was extremely curious what it would be like to have one.

"Yeah." Clementine said. "My mom's name was Diana and my dad's name was Ed. Why ask?"

"I'm curious. What was it like having a dad?" Danielle asked.

"Um… well, he would usually go a little easy on me when it comes to punishing me for doing something wrong." Clementine said as she continued to think. "He was really funny too. He taught me a whole bunch of pranks and he also let me borrow this hat. Now I wear it all the time to remember what he was like." Clementine wore a sad smile as all of the wonderful memories of her spending time with her dad started to flow in her mind.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad, Clem." Danielle said.

"No, you didn't." Clementine started to say but before she could continue the door opened up with Reggie entering the greenhouse.

"Don't mess this up!" Tavia hissed at Reggie.

"Yeah, I get it." Reggie replied.

Clementine and Danielle approached the two adults as Tavia turned to the two children. "Reggie is in charge here, okay? Listen to him carefully."

"Yup, no problem, Tavia." Reggie said. Tavia then closed the door and left.

"Okay, we got to do a good job, guys." Reggie explained. "The camp is counting on us. Come on, I'll show you what to do." Clementine and Danielle followed Reggie and they approached a table as Reggie continued, "It's super easy. Pick up those shears." Clementine and Danielle did as Reggie instructed. "Okay so we're picking these berries, right? Just pick them and put them in the basket. Very simple." Reggie then snapped off a dead branch with his shear and explained, "While you're at it if you see any dead branches, take those shears and cut them off and stack them neatly for compost. Got it?"

The two nodded and went to their own stations and started to do as Reggie instructed. They picked the berries and placed them in the basket and cut any dead branches off with the shears.

Eventually, both girls finished their work and looked to each other. They wanted to continue to talk to each other but they were interrupted again. Carver opened the door to the roof and headed for the greenhouse. Clementine's eyes widened in horror upon seeing the man. Danielle looked to her questionably until she turned around to follow Clementine's line of vision and saw the leader of the community. "Oh no." Clementine and Danielle said simultaneously.

"Oh shit!" Reggie hissed. He quickly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, everything should be fine. Everything looks good."

Suddenly the door opened and all three looked to Carver. "Just checking in… wanted to see how the new girls are working out." Carver said as he looked around the room. "Hm… I'm impressed, Reggie. You did an excellent job in here." Both Clementine and Danielle joined Reggie as he considered his next set of words. It was rare to receive a compliment from Carver.

"Uh… thank you, Bill…" Reggie said. "I wouldn't have done it without the girls' help."

Carver looked to both girls who looked away; they felt uncomfortable from the man's gaze. "Hm… well I'll make sure to reward them for their success up here. Now I need you girls to go back to Bonnie, immediately. We have more tasks that need done."

"Okay." Clementine and Danielle said keeping their heads down out of fear of the leader.

They started to leave the room as Carver continued, "Now Reggie, I do believe you have done enough for us. It's time that we welcomed you back into the group…" Reggie smiled at the thought of being welcomed back into the group as the girl's left the greenhouse.

* * *

><p>The two girls started to descend from the stairs but Danielle stopped. Clementine looked to Danielle as the younger girl looked to the top of the steps. Danielle looked to Clementine and said, "I don't feel very comfortable leaving Reggie with Carver. I mean-" Suddenly, there was a loud thunderous roar that made both girl gasp and jump in surprise.<p>

"That sounded like a gunshot. Come on, we better check that out." Clementine said. Danielle nodded and the two went back to the door. Danielle sighed and she slowly opened the door. She opened the door just enough to see what was going on as Clementine looked out as well. Both of their eyes widened upon seeing Carver carry Reggie's lifeless body to the edge of the roof. A cold chill ran down their spines, and they both watched on horrified to see Carver throw Reggie's lifeless body off the edge of the roof. Thankfully, Carver made no quick moves to leave the edge of the roof and instead looked down to where he threw the corpse. He was savoring his recent kill.

Danielle and Clementine looked on in horror, but Clementine knew that they had to move before Carver spotted them. She quickly grabbed Danielle by her hand and dragged her from the scene.

Clementine kept dragging Danielle as Danielle finally snapped out of her gaze. "Clem, Clem stop. Just stop." Danielle said.

Clementine looked back and Danielle looked to her friend horrified. "That was… my word. What was that?" Danielle asked.

"I don't know. I-" Clementine started to say until they both heard a young man's voice who was in his early twenties.

"You better keep moving. Bill don't like no stragglers." The two girls looked back to see the young man and noticed that he was carrying an assault rifle. "Go on. I ain't going to repeat myself." The young man. Hesitantly, the two ran off and went to find Bonnie. The guard shook his head and remarked, "I wonder what Bill did this time."

* * *

><p>Clementine and Danielle finally spotted Bonnie as she loaded some nails and screws in a couple of buckets. They both walked up to her with horrified expressions and she said, "Oh hey. So they want you two to run some supplies out to the guys working on the expansion." She approached the two with the buckets of supplies and continued, "Real simple. Just take this over to em."<p>

They both looked down sadly still recalling Reggie's death and they were both frightened by how Carver had killed him. Bonnie looked to the two with a questioning stare and asked, "Hey, what's wrong? Clem? Dani? You both alright?" Bonnie slouched down and placed a comforting hand on their shoulders. Clementine and Danielle flinched at first but then looked up to Bonnie and she continued, "You both look like you've seen a ghost. You can talk to me, you know that, right? Tell me what's wrong."

"R-Reggie's dead." Clementine said with pure horror and terror in her eyes. "C-Carver shot him."

"What…?" Bonnie asked. "Maybe… maybe it was just an accident."

"No, he told us to go see you." Danielle explained. "We went down the stairs but then there was a gunshot. We went back to the roof and Carver… he… he threw Reggie's body over the edge."

Bonnie eyes widened in horror and she looked around to make sure she and the two girls were alone. Upon seeing no one else, she looked to the two and said, "Listen to me. Take this stuff out to those guys and come straight back. Just be safe. Now ain't the time to be callin attention to yourselves. While you're doin that, I'm going to go find out what happened." The two children nodded as Bonnie got back up and went to the door to the emergency exit which acted as the door to the expansion.

Bonnie opened the door for Clementine and Danielle and yelled, "Hey Troy. Clem and Dani are going to take some nails to the guys in the expansion."

"Alright!" Troy hissed.

"Go on." Bonnie said and she closed the door.

Danielle and Clementine looked to the body of Reggie which was right behind them on the other side of the barricade that protected them from the walkers outside. It was now that they could see that there was a bullet wound to Reggie's head. They were both paralyzed in fear upon seeing the body until they could hear Troy.

"Hey!" Troy bellowed. "That ain't your concern! Get that stuff over to them guys in the expansion! Just follow them cables!" Troy made a gestured to the said cables that extended from Howe's into the expansion. Clementine and Danielle followed the cables, both feeling especially nervous under the searing glare of the heartless guard and the sounds of the walkers from the other side of a barricade that protected the back doors of Howe's and the two buildings that were being worked on.

Clementine and Danielle continued to walk until they reached the expansion and opened the door. The expansion was filled with tools and equipment like plywood, lights, hammers, and pallets. But the two ignored many of the specific tools and looked over to see a fight between Mike and Kenny.

"I ain't nobody's laborer." Kenny snapped as he pushed Mike into the wall and placed his arm against Mike's chest. "F*** that! Let them do this shit themselves, if it's so damn important."

Anne and Zeke watched on as the fight escalated. Clementine and Danielle dropped their supplies and ran to the arguing two hoping to calm the situation. "Get your freaking hands off me!" Mike snapped.

"You ain't going to force me to do bullshit." Kenny snapped again.

"I said get your hands off me." Mike said.

Zeke sighed and said, "Okay, old man we get it. You're very scary. Now can we please get to work before Troy shows up? I freaking hate that asshole."

"Stay out of this boy!" Kenny snapped.

Zeke who merely shrugged. He could care less over the situation. "You know what? F*** this." The boy said and he started to walk in the opposite direction from the fight. "I'll be pretending to work if you need me."

"Zeke, come back here." Anne said.

"As if, kid." Zeke muttered as he reached one of the work benches.

"My word, he's so annoying." Anne hissed as she crossed her arms over her chest and sent the boy a glare.

"I ain't going to tell you again." Mike snapped. "Get your freaking hands off me."

"Or what?" Kenny inquired. "Are you going to tell on me?"

"I'm trying to help you asshole." Mike replied.

"Guys enough." Danielle exclaimed. Anne looked around surprised to see both girls. Between Mike and Kenny arguing and Zeke's infuriating attitude, Anne didn't even notice the two girls enter.

"Reggie's dead!" Clementine exclaimed. "Carver killed him!"

"What?" Kenny asked also surprised to see the two children and even more surprised by the fact that the man he had just greeted last night was dead.

Kenny released his grip on Mike and the man huffed. "Are you sure?" Mike asked. But before either girl could answer, the window behind Mike shattered and the bottom board fell loose under the walkers' weight. The walkers growled as they entered the expansion, looking around easily identifying the five people as food. "Shit!" Mike exclaimed as he ran off to grab a screwdriver.

"Grab something!" Kenny exclaimed as he looked for a weapon as well. He found it in the form of a hammer and stepped back as the walkers continued to flow in.

"Zeke!" Anne exclaimed as she started to retreat from the herd flowing in. Kenny and Mike had two walkers each to kill, but three walkers pursued Anne as she shielded Clementine and Danielle from the herd.

Zeke looked up at the approaching herd and his eyes widened. "What the f*** did you people do now!" Zeke exclaimed. "Shit." He quickly ran towards Anne, Danielle, and Clementine to help them get rid of the walkers. The last walker to enter the expansion was in pursuit of the three girls but turned around upon noticing Zeke's scent. It growled at the boy and extended its arms towards him. Zeke quickly replied by kicking the walker's leg and causing it to lose its balance. It fell to the ground and Zeke stomped on its skull until the skull busted open. He then repeated the same process with the next walker that was pursuing Anne, Clementine, and Danielle.

Meanwhile, Anne searched for a weapon that she could use to defend herself and the two younger girls. She found it in the form of a wooden plank. "Stand back." Anne told Clementine and Danielle. The two girls stepped back a couple feet as Anne brought back the wooden board and smacked the walker. The stunned walker fell to the ground with a growl and Anne proceeded to hit the walker several times until the board broke in half. "Oh shit." Anne muttered. Anne looked to the end of the broken plank and noticed that she could use it to stab the walker. She quickly stabbed the walker with the plank to finish it off, and as a result, the walker fell to the ground with a thud.

"Anne, watch out!" Clementine exclaimed.

Suddenly, Anne was tackled to the ground by the second walker. It groaned in excitement as it tried to bite down on her neck. She raised her legs up to defend herself as Clementine and Danielle quickly ran to her aid.

Anne struggled to keep the walker at a distance but the walker must have recently turned and retained quite a bit of its strength. Just as the walker was about to chomp down on Anne's neck, it was pushed off of her by Zeke. He grunted as he threw the walker to the ground and stomped on its skull, repeating the same process that he used to get rid of the two previous walker that he had to fight off.

He grunted as he stomped on the walker's skull while Clementine helped Anne to her feet. The three watched on as Zeke finished off the walker. After killing his third walker, Zeke placed his hands on his knees and huffed.

"Z-Zeke, you saved me." Anne said.

"Don't even think about it, kid." Zeke huffed.

Anne rolled her eyes and asked, "How did you do that anyway?"

"Steel toe boots…" The boy replied as he gestured to his footwear. "Wear them around… and you will always have a weapon on you to get rid of the creeps." Zeke was finally able to stand upright and just in time too. The door to the expansion flung open to reveal a very irritated Troy. "Ah, f***." Zeke muttered.

"The f*** is going on here?" Troy bellowed. "Look at this shit! You four assholes can't even do a simple patch job right!" Troy glared at the four who were working in the expansion and grumbled under his breath. "Alright, this is how it's going to go. Kenny, Mike, Zeke, I'm going to have to babysit you assholes for the rest of the day." Troy then glared at Danielle and Clementine. The two flinched from the guards glare and he spat, "You two, get your asses back to Bonnie. And you!" Troy spat as he looked to Anne. "You're very special. Bill wants you in his office. Now get going!" Troy bellowed at the three girls. "You think I'm f****** around? GO! NOW!"

Clementine, Anne, and Danielle walked to the door as Troy turned to Kenny, Mike, and Zeke. "Alright, you f****! Get to work! NOW!" Troy bellowed as the three girls walked out the door. They continued to walk down the walkway, wrapped up in silence.

Between Reggie's brutal and unnecessary death and the close encounter with the walkers made all three silent. Anne was noticeably more nervous than her two friends. What would Carver want with her? Suddenly, Danielle was grabbed from behind and yelped before a hand covered her mouth. Clementine and Anne turned around just in time to see Danielle being dragged into the comic bookstore. They quickly ran into the comic bookstore to help the younger girl but once they entered they came upon a welcomed surprise. It was Luke.

Luke held Danielle down as she squirmed and kicked furiously to get out of Luke's grasp.

"Dani, it's alright." Anne said as she approached the frightened girl. "It's okay, it's Luke." Upon hearing her guardian's name, Danielle calmed down and looked up to her exhausted guardian.

Luke released Danielle from his grip and said, "Finally, I found someone. I came all this way and this is the welcome I get." Luke said teasingly.

Danielle smiled to him and hugged the young man. He hugged back as Danielle said, "I missed you. We all did."

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: I should mention this otherwise there will be confusion. When Zeke says creep, it means walker. He'll eventually adjust to saying walker.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This chapter will be about Anne… there is no other way of putting it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

**I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.**

"Aw, it's good to see you too, baby girl." Luke said as separated from Danielle's hug. He then frowned and said, "Alright, listen I don't have much time, okay? Followed y'all here as best as I could. Haven't had a night's rest since y'all got nabbed and… well this's first chance I got to talk to somebody." Luke's speech started to pick up speed and slurred slightly in his haste. "They're everywhere, okay? They got guards. Watchin everything. Sh, sh-sh." Luke shushed the three as a pair of footsteps could be heard outside.

They passed as Luke got up and continued, "There is a herd of lurkers just south of us. It's bigger than I ever seen around these parts." Luke walked to the door and looked out the door to check to see if there were any guards outside.

"Yeah, Carver's hoping it's going to pass us." Clementine said.

"Well, he's wrong." Luke said as he closed the door and looked back to the three children. "That herd is going to slam right into this place… now I don't know when, but it's coming and it's going to be soon. You see, I have been looking for places to… to get y'all free… but I haven't been able to find anything."

"Are you feeling alright?" Danielle asked. "You don't look so good." Of course, Danielle was right. Luke didn't look good at all. He had bags under his eyes, his hands were very jittery, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"No….no… I mean yes. Yeah, sorry. I-I could just use some sleep, you know? Hard to rest when you think a lurker is about get the jump you any minute. But yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Luke replied.

"I'm always worried about you." Danielle said, her voice was laced with concern. "You're constantly risking your own life for others."

Luke crouched down to Danielle's eye level and said, "Dani, I worry about you, too. B-But right now, I got to get you guys out of here. I'll worry about myself later."

This whole thing seems dangerous." Clementine said.

"Yeah well, this whole situation is dangerous." Luke said as he got back up and started to walk away from the three. "We just… we just need a plan… y'know a way to get you and… and everyone…" Luke trailed off as he contemplated but his lack of sleep had left him completely drained and his body was running on fumes.

Meanwhile, Clementine, Danielle, and Anne could hear footsteps from outside and looked to the door worriedly, fearing that someone would burst through the door any minute and find them with Luke. "Luke…" Anne said to get his attention.

"Sorry, sorry." Luke said as he tried to refocus. "Shit… okay. Troy ain't going to like you three being late." Luke then approached Danielle and said, "Listen, Dani, I need you to meet me here at around this time tomorrow because I need you to get me one of those radios, okay? Do you think you can do that? Just one of those walkie-talkies. I just need to be able to tell y'all what's going on with them guards. I'll figure out the schedule their patrols are on. I mean they're-they're all over the place, but I can keep an eye on them for y'all out here."

"We'll figure something out." Anne said.

"Alright, thanks you guys." Luke said happily.

Luke looked back to Danielle and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Remember, you meet me here tomorrow. I'll try to be around here at this time, but if I ain't… just wait for me as long as you can, because I really need one of those radios. Just let everybody know that I'm alright." Luke said.

"Anne!" Troy yelled from outside which grabbed the attention of the four inside. "Get out where I can see you!"

"Go on. Get out of here." Luke told the teenager. "I'll wait till Troy turns his back again and let Clem and Dani sneak on back to Howe's"

"Okay." Anne said and she approached the door as Luke continued to talk to the two young girls.

Anne left the comic bookstore to hear Troy exclaim, "The hell were you doing in there? Huh? I told you that Bill wanted to see you in his office. I didn't say shit about you f****** off." He approached her with his assault rifle in a threatening manner.

"I was just looking through some comics." Anne replied.

"Yeah, well you best not dawdle, girly. The next time I see you doing shit that doesn't help us, I will shoot you." Troy barked. "Now, where is Danielle and Clementine? Are they in there?"

"No, they went back to Bonnie." Anne replied.

"You'd better be telling me the truth." Troy said as he got into Anne's face with an intimidating glare. "If I hear otherwise, I'm going to shoot them upright, kill 'em. And then, I'm going to kill you for being a lying bitch about it."

"I'm not scared of you, asshole." Anne said returning the glare.

"Wrong answer." Troy hissed and brought back the assault rifle ready to strike Anne with the end of it until they could hear Zeke.

"Hey Troy, how about you help us out over here with the f****** walkers instead of being a useless piece of shit?" Zeke asked.

"What'd you say to me?" Troy hissed as he turned around. His glare intensified as he stared at the boy.

"Do you want us to repair the expansion?" Zeke asked. "Because that can be done today when we don't have to deal with twenty f******* walkers."

"F*****." Troy muttered under his breath. "Fine, I'm coming." He yelled to the boy. Zeke retreated back into the expansion upon hearing that Troy would help. Troy himself didn't want to help, but if Carver heard that the expansion had little to no renovations to it, he would skin Troy alive… figuratively speaking.

Troy looked back to Anne and said, "Get to Bill's office, now." The heartless guard then left the teenager and went into the expansion. Anne hesitantly headed for Carver's office. She still wondered what Carver would want with her. For whatever reason, Anne knew it wasn't good.

* * *

><p>Anne was nearing Carver's office and could see Carver talking to a distraught Rebecca. She looked up worriedly and continued to walk towards Carver's office until she heard one of Carver's guards. He was a stocky man where glasses and had quite a bit of facial hair.<p>

"Dude, Bill is pissed. You better get on up there." The guard said. Anne stopped and gave the guard a look. The look was one that read that she already knew that Carver was aggravated. "So, you should probably go up there." He then went back to patrolling and Anne proceeded to Carver's office.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Anne muttered as she passed by a couple of check-out stations that were no longer functioning and she started to walk up the stairs to the office.

As Anne neared the top of the stairs, she saw Rebecca ran out of the office crying, her hand covering part of her face.

"Rebecca?" Anne said worriedly. The woman ignored the teenager and continued to walk down the flight of stairs.

"She's a strong woman, surrounded by weak men. I ain't lettin my kid get raised around that." Carver said as the teen turned to the leader of the community. "Now, get in here." Carver said to Anne.

Anne reluctantly obliged and entered the office to see a gruesome sight. Anne's eyes widened upon seeing Alvin beaten to a bloody pulp. He appeared to be unresponsive and was slumped down in a chair in the corner of the room.

"Alvin! Alvin!" Anne exclaimed as she approached the man.

"He passed out hours ago." Carver explained with a slight chuckle in his voice. Anne turned to the psychotic leader as he continued, "He can't hear you. No point in making a racket."

"Why are you doing this?" Anne asked.

"Me and him, we got history. Understand?" Carver explained. "A couple things we had to… get worked out." He then glared at her and said, "I wouldn't be too concerned on his well-being if I were you, not with you so close to the fire yourself." Carver then looked to his desk and said, "Now…" He made a hand gesture for Anne to sit in front of the desk.

Anne obliged and sat in one of the chairs while she sent a glare at Carver. "Now you make sure and tell me the truth when you're sitting where you are… and you won't end up over in that chair." Carver said as he made a gesture towards the chair that Alvin was in. "Now, I believe you heard about the little incident with Reggie-"

"Yeah, I know that you murdered him in cold blood for no damn reason." Anne snapped at the leader.

"It isn't murder." Carver explained. "And you better not interrupt me again, otherwise, well you'll be in the same chair that our dear friend, Alvin, is in. Now, you may not believe this from what happened, but… I liked Reggie. He was a funny guy. He kept things light. You need folks like that… it's easy to let depression sink in during times like this." Carver then walked behind the desk to address her more formally. "But he was weak. And I don't mean because he was maimed, that wasn't his problem. He was weak in will, weak in character. And we can't have that around."

"You're a murderer." Anne said. "You can call it whatever you want but I know what it is. What it really is."

Carver glared at Anne and said, "I already told you, Annie. It isn't murder. Killing one to save many is a part of survival. It's one of the tough decisions that a weaker person couldn't make. It's why it falls to people like us to bring them to safety."

"I'm not like you." Anne said.

"Actually darling, you and I are more alike than you think." Carver said. "Out of everyone in your group, you show the most promise. I can't do anything with your other friends. Zeke's too lazy to even care, Clementine is not even close. I can tell she has loss people, but she doesn't have any anger to build upon that loss. Her damn guardian kept her safe and treated her more as a child than a survivor to prevent that girl from losing her innocence. And then there's Dani. She's too broken to show any promise, just like that fifteen year old girl that I beat to death."

"F*** you. Sarah didn't deserve to die." Anne said angrily. Carver leaned back and smirked upon discovering that he had hit a nerve. Anne sat in front of the leader still contemplating and asked, "What makes you think I have any potential?"

"There's no other way you could have lasted this long, not without becoming something else, something better." Carver explained. "You see, I could tell that you had the makings of a good leader. I could tell that you were scared when you first met my group. But you stood your ground even when we approached you with assault rifles. You didn't flee like your two friends. That's what we're going to need in the next generation. We don't need a lazy-ass boy, a girl trying to hold onto her innocence, and a broken girl, we need leaders. Children raised the way you were raised, the way my child will be raised."

"It's not your baby. It's Alvin's." Anne said.

"Well, even if that was true, it's mine now." Carver said with a slightly disappointed look. "Now-"

"Bill, you there?" Tavia asked from a radio transmission.

Carver went up to the radio and picked it up. "Yeah? I'm here." Carver replied as he looked out to the hardware store from his office.

"The loading bay door is jacked." Tavia replied. "Troy really knocked the shit out of it."

"How bad is it?" Carver asked as Anne eyed the PA system setup.

"Rails are tweaked so it won't shut all the way." Tavia explained. "I don't think it's an emergency or anything, but it's something that Stan should take a look at when he can."

"I'll get him on it. Out." Carver grumbled, easily annoyed by the new mess that Troy had made. "That f****** idiot. A herds on its way and he puts a ding in my door. Go on out back to the yard… it's almost supper time." Carver said as he contemplated over the new information.

Anne got up and walked to the door while looking at Alvin sadly. She proceeded to exit the office and went towards the yard, contemplating on the best course of action to escape. She had to get a radio to Luke, but how long would that take? Carver has beaten Alvin nearly to death in one day. She and the group had to get him out of the office now. But if the group acted hastily, then there could be several fatalities.

As Anne continued to walk toward the yard, she was met by Bonnie. Anne was surprised to see her and even hesitant to talk to her. "Hey. I just wanted to return this to you." Bonnie said as she handed the hunting knife that Anne gave her back at the ski lodge. Anne accepted the blade and placed it in an empty holster as Bonnie continued. "I also wanted to say that I am so sorry for what happened back at the ski lodge. I thought by finding Luke's group that I could control the situation. But then… Bill just dragged you, Kenny, Walter, and Sarita into the mix. That shouldn't have happened." Bonnie was obviously downhearted and very apologetic.

Anne was surprised to see her apologetic. She didn't expect Bonnie to apologize. "It's okay, Bonnie. I could tell that you were as scared as the rest of us. Things just… went to shit."

"Thank you for understanding." Bonnie said. Bonnie then started to walk away but stopped to address Anne. "Anne…" Anne stopped to listen to Bonnie as the guard continued, "I learned somethin when my group and I captured you. I learned that Bill isn't the man I thought he was and that I can never trust him again. If things get real bad, I'm going to pull you guys out of here. Even if I got to do it by myself. It's the least I owe y'all."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Anne said. Bonnie nodded and left to go talk to Carver as Anne went toward the yard.

* * *

><p>True to Carver's word, it was supper time and very dark outside. Anne entered the yard as Tisha opened and closed the garage door for her. "…Because we all know what happened this morning. I don't know what that sonuvabitch is going to do next." Kenny exclaimed. Anne walked up to the fire pit where everyone was gathered.<p>

"So you wanna just ring the dinner bell for a herd of walkers to show up?" Mike inquired. "How's that better?"

"Cause this place will be in f****** chaos when that thing hits." Kenny explained as Anne sat in one of unused lawn chairs. "No one'll be payin attention to us. And that's when we go. That's our opening. We just got to figure out a way to draw them to us." Kenny continued as Anne looked over to Zeke. He seemed to be lost in thought.

Anne figured that he was contemplating over what happened earlier today. He wasn't much of a team player, but he probably didn't need to be. He took out three walkers with nothing more than his footwear and his astonishing strength. Anne turned to the rest of the group and asked, "What's going on?"

"Your friend here is trying to get us killed by lurkers before Bill can do it." Rebecca said.

"What is it with you?" Kenny asked.

"That's what it sounds like to me." Rebecca replied.

"You know that's not what he's saying… but it does sound dangerous." Sarita said.

"This shit is all dangerous!" Kenny exclaimed.

"Kenny!" Sarita snapped. "Do not speak to me like that!"

"Okay, okay, sorry." Kenny apologized.

"It's a mistake to stay here any longer than we have to." Anne said. "No telling what that psycho is going to do next, but we can't act hastily. And we need to figure out how to get to Alvin."

"Maybe Luke could help us… he's outside." Clementine explained. "He wants a radio to keep an eye on the guards."

"Thank you." Rebecca said happily. "That's the plan I vote for."

"You know about Luke?" Danielle asked.

"He flagged us down when Troy wasn't looking." Mike explained. "Told us his plan… mentioned that he talked to you, Clementine, and Anne."

"If Luke can tell us what's going on with the guards, we can use that to pick a good time to escape." Rebecca explained.

"That seems reasonable." Sarita said.

"Who knows when that'll be?" Kenny inquired. "There was a girl back at Crawford that used church bells to send walkers all over the city. We just need something really loud."

"The PA system that Carver uses is quite loud." Sarita said.

"There are some speakers outside the building… pointing towards the parking lot." Mike said. "I saw them when we were going out to work."

"I saw the controls in Carver's office." Anne said.

"She's right. Everything is controlled through Bill's office. Speakers, microphones, everything." Rebecca said.

"How do you know that?" Mike asked. Everyone looked to Rebecca waiting for her reply.

"I used to make some of the announcements back in the day." Rebecca explained. "I accidentally turned it on once; thankfully, there wasn't many walkers around to hear it. But it was plenty loud though."

"That's perfect." Kenny said. "We just got to get to his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because that is not a good plan." Rebecca said. "It's not a decision of whether the plan will work or not. It's a decision of how stupid it is. And it is very stupid."

"Rebecca's right." Anne said. "We can't rush this. Someone could get seriously hurt if we rush this plan."

"We'll die in here if we do nothing." Kenny exclaimed.

"Kenny calm down. I know that you're just scared about what happened this morning. And I know that you just want to keep the rest of us safe, but if we're going to come up with something that'll work, you're going to have to calm down." Anne said in calm tone. Kenny looked as if he wanted to argue but instead he lowered his head with a disgruntled sigh, indicating that Anne was right.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Danielle asked. "Do we give Luke the radio or do we bring the herd to us? I personally think that it would be too risky with the herd."

"Why can't we do both?" Clementine asked. "Even if we bring the herd to us, it's probably good for Luke to be able to tell us where they're coming from."

"Yeah, that does sound safer than trying to figure out where they're coming from." Danielle said.

"You know what?" Kenny said. "Fine. I can get behind that."

"Yeah, two plans are better than one." Anne said. "However, we should make it a priority to get Alvin."

"I agree." Rebecca said with a smile, thankful that at least someone was looking out for her husband.

"Okay, so we give that turd the radio, he keeps us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the PA thing and we bring the walkers to roll over this place." Kenny said.

"And then what?" Mike asked.

"Get some guns and fight our way out." Kenny replied. "I don't know, whatever we can do. We improvise."

"Then that's not a plan." Mike said. "You don't plan to improvise."

"I just figured out what your problem is… you don't think this stuff through." Rebecca said. "If the end of the plan is to stroll through a herd of walkers, then you should know from the jump that there's no way it's ever going to work."

"Actually…" Zeke said as he approached the group. "…I do it all the time"

"First words that don't involve your stupid bow and it's just some random, stupid shit." Mike said.

"Hush." Sarita said and then she looked back to Zeke. "What do you mean exactly?"

"When you cover yourself in their smell, rub the walker guts all over you… they can't tell you from one of them." Zeke explained.

"Now I don't know who's crazier." Rebecca said.

"Trust me." Zeke said. "I've walked through herds before. It works. You have to just keep calm, and make sure you're good and covered."

"You sound like you know what you are talking about." Sarita said.

"Lee figured that out." Clementine said.

"What?" Kenny asked shocked by the mention of his deceased friend's name.

"That's how we got out of the Marsh House." Clementine explained. "Lee covered me and we walked right through."

"Really?" Kenny said with a smile. "Holy shit. Good one Lee." Kenny then got up and asked, "Alright! What are we waiting for? Let's get that stupid radio."

"We still have to find a way to get into the stock room." Rebecca said.

"I got a plan for that too." Zeke replied. He then looked to Anne and said, "Come on, Anne. I'm going to need your help." Anne got up and joined alongside Zeke with a questionable stare.

"So wait, you're going start calling me by my first name now?" Anne asked.

Zeke chuckled. "Yeah, I guess."

"Where the hell did he come from?" Kenny asked the group as they followed the teenagers.

Zeke and Anne approached the wall that they used earlier with the winch to send bags of soil to the roof. "We'll use the wench to get you up top. Once you're up there, just drop down from one of the skylights. There are shelves and stuff to land on, so… you probably won't fall to your death."

"Well, that sounded very encouraging." Anne said as the remainder of the group walked up from behind.

"That thing breaks all the time." Rebecca said. "Unless something's changed, it won't support much weight."

"Alright, up and at em." Kenny said encouragingly to Anne.

"Don't push her, Kenny." Sarita said.

"She's our best bet. I mean that, Anne." Kenny said.

"Alright, I'm on it." Anne said.

"Good, that a girl." Kenny praised. "Okay, we got to get that rope down." He then turned to Mike and said, "Mike you wanna boost her up?"

Mike headed for the wall where the winch was and said, "Come on, kid." Anne followed him.

Mike lifted her up onto his shoulders as Anne said, "Don't let go."

"I got you." Mike said. Anne was in arm's reach of the rope and started to pull on it. Eventually, the hook to the winch came down from the roof. Mike placed Anne on the ground and grabbed the rope.

Anne placed her foot into the hook of the winch and Mike began to pull on the other end of the rope. Anne started to ascend to the stairs and it seemed as though things were going as planned. "Try to hurry." Mike whispered. "I don't think that they're the sharpest guards in the world, but they're no idiots either."

"I don't know about that, Mike." Zeke said. "Troy's about as dumb as shit."

Mike scoffed and said, "You got a point there, kid." Suddenly, they could all hear footsteps from the other side of the warehouse garage door. "Shit, he's coming back." Mike whispered. "I got to let you go. I can't stand here. Grab something."

Anne nodded to Mike and leapt for the ladder. She grabbed onto the ladder and started to climb up it. She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A large herd of walkers were slowly making their way to the community, the herd's size was like nothing Anne had ever seen. "We're in trouble." Anne said. She refocused and continued to climb up the ladder.

She reached the top and noticed a guard on the roof, looking out to the herd, radioing to someone. Anne had to move quickly before the guard could see her. She ran for the skylights as the guard said, "You are not going to believe this. There are thousands of walkers heading right for us…"

Anne looked down one of the skylights. It had a couple of shelves and freights that she could use to maneuver her way down safely. She opened the skylight and landed on one of the shelving units. She then looked down to survey the area. She noticed Tavia talking into one of the radios, she was probably talking to the guard on the roof. She got up from her seat as Anne continued to eye the area. She looked to what was sitting on the boxes next to Tavia and her eyes widened. It was a couple of chargers with several radios on them.

Anne started to descend from the shelves being careful as to not get Tavia's attention. She slowly approached one of the freights from the shelving and descended onto it, she then descended on another freight as Tavia walked around. She overheard Tavia talking into the radio as she finally reached the ground. "I know what you mean, I thought we would be used to it now." Tavia said. Anne approached the charging station of the walkie-talkies until Tavia came back around the corner.

Anne quickly backpedalled and hid from the guard behind a freight. "You never got used to that, not even a light buzzing?" Tavia asked into her radio. She looked over the freight thinking that she saw something as the reply came in on her radio. "I'll give you that one." Tavia replied as she walked away.

Anne came out upon hearing Tavia's voice getting fainter. "Bill wants me to start getting that bay door fixed." Tavia said. Anne approached the charging station as Tavia continued to talk to the guard on the other end of the walkie-talkie. It was followed by a muffled voice that couldn't be identified. "…Yup." Tavia replied. "…Troy backed into it when he brought the prisoners- I mean new people in."

Anne reached the walkie-talkies as she could hear the guard at the other end say, "See? It's hard not calling them prisoners."

"Anyway, I'm looking at it now and… I don't think we have what we need." Tavia said. "I mean, we repurposed a lot of shit to get this place built. I can't say for sure if we had the materials before we started expanding." Anne saw her chance and tried to grab one of the radios but quickly ducked when Tavia turned her head towards the girl's direction.

"I don't know about you, but it seems like we really shouldn't be doing this yet." The guard at the other end of the walkie-talkie said. Tavia went back to looking at the radio which allowed Anne another chance to grab the radio. "Can't we just wait until need more space to make more space?"

"I don't know, Hank." Tavia said. "Bill has a plan. Look, let's say we'll call it for now. We'll talk later."

"Alright, talk to you later." The guard, Hank, replied.

Tavia then lowered the walkie-talkie to her side and went to inspect the door that she would have to start fixing tomorrow, thanks to Troy. Meanwhile, Anne reached for a couple of the radios and quickly grabbed them off the charger. She then started the process of climbing back up to the skylight.

She was halfway up to the skylight when she noticed Tavia pulling out a cigarette. She gasped upon hearing a new voice. "You can't be smoking back here!" A man exclaimed.

"Vince come on." Tavia said in a defeated tone. "Don't give me that."

"You know if Bill sniffs a whiff of smoke back here that he'll flip. What're you thinking?" Vince said. Anne went back to climbing to the skylight as Vince continued, "You know what? I'm just going to tell him. I'm not going to let someone else get blamed for this. That's bullshit." Vince started to walk away from Tavia as Anne reached the skylight and began to pull herself up.

Tavia threw the carton of cigarettes on the ground and pursued Vince calling out his name a couple of times.

Anne was back on the roof with two radios. She made her way to the ladder and both radios were clipped to her belt as she made her decent on the ladder. Once she was on the last rum, she noticed Mike leaning against the wall. He noticed her and asked, "Did you get them?" She nodded in reply and he smiled and approached the ladder. "Go ahead and drop down. I got you." He then angled himself underneath the ladder, ready to catch the teenager.

She released her grip from the bottom rum and Mike immediately caught her. "We best get in bed; Troy will be back any minute."

Mike and Anne approached the group who were pretending to sleep, but they immediately perked up when they saw her approaching the plywood bedding.

"You got them?" Kenny asked.

"Come on, Anne don't leave us in the dark." Clementine said excitedly.

Anne smiled as she unclipped one of the radios from her belt to show the group. "You little devil." Kenny snickered. He then looked around to everyone else and said, "Alright y'all, just stay where you're at. Do not move a muscle."

Everyone obliged to Kenny's orders and laid down as everyone started to compliment Anne on her success.

"Good job, Anne. I knew you could do it." Danielle said.

"Thanks Dani." Anne said.

"Thank you Anne." Kenny said. "Now we got a light at the end of the tunnel."

"The faster we're out of this hellhole, the better." Anne remarked.

"You got that right." Kenny said.

"I'm glad you made it out alright." Zeke spoke up.

"Aw… that's sweet of you, Zeke." Anne said in a sincere tone of voice.

Zeke chuckled and said, "Yeah, well, if you would have gotten caught, I would have to pick on someone else."

"Gee thanks, I'm glad that you care so much about me." Anne said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Zeke said with a victorious smirk. He then became serious and said, "Anyway, get some rest."

Anne started to close her eyes, but her eyes immediately shot open upon hearing Kenny's voice. "I thought about Duck today, about his dumb little face…" Kenny said. Anne looked to Kenny as he looked up to the plywood bed above him. "…first things that come to mind are always the dumb things he was doing… Kid was always running in circles. Every damn place we went, he'd just run.

"Is that your son, Kenny?" Anne asked.

"Yeah… Kenny Junior… Couldn't stop him… makes it harder to remember that he was a good boy." Kenny finished with a tear in his eye. He seemed to stare off distantly as Anne's eyes started to droop. "Go on and get some sleep. We got a big day tomorrow." Finally, sleep overwhelmed her and her eyes closed, only to be open again for the morning light.

…**To be continued.**


End file.
